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I seriously hope this new name, by new owners, is not a reference to the potential chaos they intend to wreak across the SGR/SHR intersection - but if the current building works being undertaken is anything to go by it might just be the case.
I live above this little hotspot of post-pub filth food, and was intrigued to notice that out the back of my kitchen window, they have built a covered back yard with timber and felt. This 6ft by 6ft space is sandwiched on three sides by the bookies, the Stapleton Tavern and a private residence. At first I had no idea what it was, until the other day when I got home form work very late to be greeted by LOUD music and drilling coming from the shop with the door open and a full house of what looked like the owners and their workmen and friends (so far, so Beirut) inside. I adopted my friendly approach and went inside to chat with the two guys who looked like they were in charge. They were very happy to tell me that they have bought the place and intend it to be a great new, better quality take out (and eat in) restaurant. They then invited me 'out the back' to view an area they seemed very proud of. With a mixture of trepidation and intrigue, I walked through to the back of the shop/bomb site to a door covered by hanging tassles. I turned to look back thinking 'is this the room where I die?' to see the two men excitedly gesturing me to enter through the curtain. I poked my head through (thinking 'at least decapitation is QUICK), to be greeted by a thoroughly jolly party of 8 or so people sat on benches facing me and listening to a guy playing bongos, smoking shisha pipes! "Hello", I said nervously, at which point they all looked at each other, looked back at me (SO WHITE, SO NOT THEIR CROWD) and laughed aloud. "HELLO" they chorused back - at which point I scurried out back to the front of the shop.
They have built a smoking den!
The two guys (brothers) in charge said they open very soon. I wished them luck, asked them if they wouldn't mind turning the music down (it was 11.30pm), accepted their offer of a free Lebanese when they opened and shook their hands goodbye.
It all seems very upbeat and positive so far.
HOWEVER (Daily Mail sounding part starts here) - I can't help but think, if they stay open until 3am like kebabilicious did - are we all in for an ear-bashing catastrophe on the scale of environmental health problems never seen before? Just last night, whilst building, they were playing music again. The guy whose balcony backs directly onto the roof of the smoking den came out, banged on it to get the attention of those inside and bellowed for them to turn it off as it was making his floorboards bounce. I can't help but think "here comes trouble"
Which leads me to be ultimate question: How long should I leave it before being a total party pooper and informing the council that there is a BLATANTLY illegally built, hazardous area out the back of a local shop making noise and posing a danger to those inside? If there was a fire at the front of the shop - those in that annex would be totally trapped. Of course, whilst it would be terrible for anybody to die in such circumstance, more importantly than this I need my beauty sleep. I get enough grief of the betting shop cunts out the front without a new problem the other way. I also don't want bloody shisha smoke blowing in through my kitchen window, poisoning me in my sleep.
WHAT SHALL I DO AFTER I HAVE HAD MY FREE KEBAB? -
After some research I have discovered that Beirut City charge over £8 for a very small kebab!
Therefore I conclude they won't be open very long at those prices.
I'm pretty confident that they won't have approval for the smoking den too. The old owners of Kebabilicious wanted to get the shish pipe out the back and couldn't get approval, so I'd be amazed if a new owner has instantly got approval -
Extremely shocked at the newness of the place. Hopeful about the falafel, which appears on the sandwich and hot starter menu...
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How are people finding Beirut City? I've had a couple of excellent kebab/wrap experiences. The main chef appears to be very talented, and the menu is huge, but they seem to struggle with service a bit – partly because few of them speak much English.
I’m tempted to go in for a sit-down meal at some point.
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Had a take-away Friday night, and it was excellent. Had "foul madamas", which is a mashed up bean dish along with my lamb shwarma (a kebab in a wrap). Proper charcoal grill.
The chap seems very nice, and proudly showed me the shisha smoking area, which looked lovely, as does the restuarant part. He also told me how he loves the rain and heat makes him angry.
Anyway, recommended. -
Went for a spur of the moment sit-down on Saturday night. The guys were really friendly, the owner was in with his family and had a massive feast which looked amazing. We shared a few of the wraps and I had a freshly made banana milkshake which was delicious. Was interesting to see quite a few SG.orgers come and go with their takeaways. Free baklava when we left was a nice touch. Definitely going back, and they do delivery as well. The back room looks delightful, and it was nice to have the scent of the shisha drifting in. Better than King's and Black Sea.
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We got takeaway from there last night: a total of five vegetarian dishes. All were delicious, especially the foul medamas and the babaganouj. The owner's small son was playing with me while I waited; he was very cute, and the owner seemed like a delightful fellow. We'll definitely be going back for more. It was fresh, proper, unprocessed food, and to my somewhat uneducated palate, authentic. Delicious.
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I went in there and demanded a "the nearest thing you can get to a donner please". it was very nice
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And so the end. Just nipped in for a shwarma and they were packing everything into boxes. Closing tonight. Owner said he had given it 8 months but not enough trade that end of the street, the pubs all served food and he had lost 20k so far. He's going to look at opening somewhere else.
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Genuinely gutted about this. He'd made a great little spot and the food was delicious, but i guess i'd only been there the once.
I do remember the equivalent of a chicken shish was something like £9. I guess kebab eating punters would have seen it as an expensive takeaway rather than a genuine lebanese restaurant of sorts.
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I'm with you Brodie. I went there a couple of weeks ago, and although I thought it was pretty good, it ended up being almost as expensive as somewhere like Petek's, for food and ambience which wasn't as good.
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What a shame I've been in there a couple of times for a falafel and to smoke a shisha. The owner was always friendly and the falafel was very good.
Should of had an alcohol licence, a beer with the shisha would have been lovely. -
It is a shame. I've staggered in there a few times, as it's one of the few places that's open when everything else is shut, and the food was always yummy. The manager was really nice. But yes I've never been in there for a sit down meal, and would probably go to Petek or Antepliler on Green Lanes for ambiance instead.
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I won't miss their shutters being pulled down at 1am every single night waking me up from R.E.M.
Shame it didn't take off as he seemed a nice guy.
I'm surprised they didn't get more post-pub interest.
That little space out the back was never any bother in the end, but probably because the business was never that busy.
I wonder what type of kebab shop it will become next!??
Actually I'd like to see a little Bistro with a full license serving affordable, tasty British grub.
It's one of the few things we don't have on SGR.
True - it's a tricky spot at the best of times. How the Indian restaurant with the brown tinted glass just three doors down has stayed open so long is BEYOND me! -
It does a roaring take away trade
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clearly not enough to keep it from the debtors door!
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Shame, kebabs were great there
The ones when Kebabalicious first opened were good too, before the place seemed to just have the older guy working there and went back to elephant leg meat.
A quality kebab shop would do a good trade further down the road, perhaps. -
But we have Season, Dotori, Petek and Cats down the 'wrong end' where we live. Plus the lovely new greengrocers is coming. We don't need another kebaberie there - we have one already, plus the chipper. There are loads of them round FP station.
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There's a big difference between any old kebab shop and a quality one serving proper meat and shwarmas.
Unfortunately the kebab shop down that end of the road doesn't cut it. -
Oh no! Gutted to see this, although I did only go there once, quite recently. I wanted to go back.
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Shame, it was a great place. Best kebabs I've ever had from a takeaway. Went there regularly but it was going gradually downhill, I guess as they began to spend less on ingredients etc.
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We need a really good fish n chip shop! I have to travel to Blackstock Road for mine, as the one on Tollington Park Road isn't up to my superior northern standards.
Plus - I really like the smell of fish and chips so wouldn't mind it wafting into my bathroom whilst I am in the bath. Unlike kebabs -
Did they get planning permission for the one on Wells Terrace, I wonder.
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@Arkady - yep, they did.
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@barnesbq. Whats your view on chips and gravy? My girlf (fromt Burn-lay) swears by it and spends many a day trudging the streets of London looking for that elusive brown slop for her polystyrene tray.
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Must be a northern thing, I love it (I'm really northern). But it has to be that thick gloopy chip shop gravy. Had it recently in Brighton and it was proper normal gravy which didnt really work. Chips and curry sauce is even better. But not proper curry sauce, that day-glo green stuff that comes in powdered form with dried onions in. My favourite northern chip-shop item is a Beanie, which is battered sausage meat with baked beans in the middle, but I've never come across them other than in North Yorkshire. By the way, proper northerners call it the 'fish-shop' or 'fishy' not chip shop.
And yes, shame about Beirut. I went there a few times and the owner told me he was struggling. I suggested he might want to allow people to bring their own booze in the restaurant bit but he didn't like the idea due to his religious beliefs.
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tollingtons chippy in tolly park gives you thick gravy to dunk your chips in and mushy peas and a pukka pie...
i think that's marvellous,especially after a few pints of frothy mead...
carry on
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I don't rate Tollingtons gravy at all - not anywhere near thick enough, and their chips are always dry and 'floury'. Pukka pies are over-rated too. I think there's another thread on this...
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I asked them in Tollington if they did chip spice (Hull delicacy) and I swear they were considering asking me to leave. The entire staff team just went silent.
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Could be Yorkshire vs Lancashire. Chippy is recognised as an acceptable term int Burn-lay.
From my days int Leeds.....menu items have included....Barm cakeScrapsPotato scallopsCorned beef frittersIf someone said they were going to have a "fishy".....i'd probably wish them well and not shake their hand the next day -
yeah I like chips and gravy - no different from potatoes and gravy is it? Don't know why people get sniffy about it.
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Ah but do you call them scraps or scrapings? They're scrapings where I'm from (Durham City).
You wouldn't say you are having a fishy, you might say something along the lines of, say 'gan down the fishy and gerruz a large cod wi chips an curry sauce foh me tea will ye pet?' (anyone who knows me will know I don't speak like that, but I might try for a few days just to confuse folk).
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I'm going to open a new takeaway shop in Stroud Green and sell only chips. I will call it Kreuzcav's (after the one on his shoulder).
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I'm my chip shop I will advertise two types of chips. There will be 'working class' chips and 'posh chips'. Working class chips will be £1 a bag and posh chips will be £2 a bag. They will of course be the same chips. After a few weeks I will realise that the posh chips are very popular amongst working class people who want to be percieved as posh, so I will double their price as there is high demand and people don't mind paying such a small price to be posh. Similarly, it will become apparent that the working class chips are popular with posh people who want to be ironic, so I will raise the price even higher than the posh chips because the posh people can afford them.
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Well well Misscara are you moving into the shopping unit of doom as it is going to be a Fish & Chip Shop ?
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No somebody else has beaten me to it. Rumour has it that it is still going to be under the expert business direction of Old Man Yemek/Soba.
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@barnesbq - which F&C shop on Blackstock do you deem worthy of your northern standards? My other half is from the northeast (Sunderland) and we are always on the hunt for a good chipper!
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Back to Beirut City How is a business supposed to survive when rents are this high
http://www.zoopla.co.uk/to-rent/details/16041541?search_identifier=4dbb1aa396b687a26772debc89dec48b
That is a lot of Kebabs to get to breakeven !
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Then you have to add extortionate business rates, utilities, staffing etc! And the cost of your raw materials
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