North Devon Bab

Although this blog is primarily Bristol based, for the first review it was decided to spread our wings to the wonderful quayside town of Bideford and review a doner from there. Also, we happenned to be going there anyway and I was hungry come 2am despite promising myself earlier in the evening that no salty meat would pass my lips.

The setting was a charming place called Ali's Charcoal Grill, next door to another fast food shop, but crucially it appeared to house an elephant leg and reasonably miserable staff. Upon entering the general atmosphere was subdued; none of the chaos, bickering and sizzling of a busy kebab shop which unnerved me slightly. There was no going back however. The welcome was reasonably surly - but very few could beat the enthusastic welcome of Efe's of Bristol or the efficient "whatdoyouwant" of the Arches (both to be reviewed soon - watch this space). I ordered a small doner kebab from a standard but slightly pale-looking elephant leg. No chicken option which reflects poorly on their status as a "charcoal grill" - one skewer is standard chip shop fare in 2009 so I would expect a chicken at the very least. Garlic sauce, lettuce and cucumber was selected as the condiments. I was informed there was NO CUCUMBER. None. I was taken aback but struggled on - I agreed that lettuce and garlic sauce would have to suffice.

This arrived extremely promptly, I believe at least three people were involved in its production. I paid one man who barked the order to his minions, and a toasted pitta was produced filled with flesh by a second, the lettuce and garlic sauce were added by a third and a fourth may have even passed me the sandwich. I forget.

We sat down to await burgers and other lesser snacks for our companions - these would have to wait because of the suspicious speed of arrival of my food. I was instantly impressed, the lettuce was an interesting mix of at least two types - almost a Tesco salad bag style mixture. Impressive and made up for the lack of cucumber. The garlic sauce was nice and thin, no cheap garlic mayo here, with a hint of mint. This could even be passed as fairly authentic. The meat was almost certainly pre-sliced and was chopped up into small chunks (not to mention the rapid arrival discussed earlier) and was soft and evenly lukewarm. I must admit I am partial to the long ribbons of meat and dangling them into my mouth, but this unusual style did facilitate an easy dining experience. It was soft, tender, lamby and the pitta was of good quality so could be made into a tight, solid sandwich with minimal mess.

I left fat and happy, although during the taxi home this did make way for intense queasyness. The next day no ill effects were felt, the odd stomach cramp at 6am but nothing to write home about.