Oddly dry and wet chicken kebab
May 2011
Peter Pan’s is one of those Halal takeaway places that tries to do everything: Pizzas, kebabs, chips, fried chicken etc. On walking in it was pretty obvious that kebabs weren’t the priority, but there was a pretty tasty looking chicken shawarma rotating away – our unwritten rule is ‘eat only that which you have seen’, we followed the rule. In other establishments we’ve been refused chicken shawarma at lunchtime as it can take 3 or more hours to cook through. We asked if it was ready, the guy nodded. Although it was 4PM the place had only just opened – so did they really put it on at 1? Perhaps sensing our doubt, the guy serving went to the trouble of moving the gas heating element closer to the meat, to emphasise...er? Something. Unfortunately he didn’t do anything sensible like cut meat off and serve it to us fresh and juicy. The meat we were given was retrieved from the dreaded warming pot. The rotating shawarma was completely whole and the place had just opened – so when was this meat put in warmer and from which shawarma was it cut? - At first I'd thought the Peter Pan name was a play on 'Pizza Pan' - now I realised it was because the meat never grew up. The ‘fresh naan’ was cooked in the pizza oven in a pizza pan – this wasn’t terrible in itself, just a bit weird. It was a lot like a pizza base – it did the bread-job well enough, but lacked the charred smokiness of a good tandoor naan. The salad was probably the high point, although this was ruined by the sauces. The ‘chilli’ sauce was clearly yoghurt mixed with tandoori masala powder, a very distinctive and unwelcome flavour – essentially raw marinade. Why this was put on when I could see two decent looking chilli relishes I’ve no idea. The kebab ended up dry but drowned. The guy was having a bad day. £4.40 wasn’t a good price either. We won’t rush back.
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