Opening eve of Adam’s Grill
Kebab newcomer Adam’s Grill opened yesterday. Dan went along to road test it.
Having finally been for a jog-walk-jog, I deserved a kebab, and with Adam’s ‘flashing sign’ Grill opening tonight, this was a perfect opportunity.
With a friend in tow, we shuffled past the group of nervous owners standing by the door and immediately couldn’t find the kebabs on the menu (they’re down the bottom below the starters). I ordered a chicken schwarma wrap for comparative purposes, even though it looked pretty dry on the kebab machine, and the lamb schwarma looked better.
My partner in crime ordered a minced lamb (kofte, I assume) on pastry, but, having only just opened they didn’t have the right machine yet so he switched his order to a lamb shish wrap.
There’s a nice little area of tables and chairs so we sat and waited (this isn’t one of those silly pseudo-restaurants that charge more to eat your kebab in the warmth indoors) for the shish to be grilled. There was a good selection of salad, including beetroot and slices of pickle (no chillies), and it came wrapped in two very thin tortilla-styles wraps.
After a quick toast and squish in the pannini machine, the disappointingly girl-sized kebabs were at our table, and we got stuck in. My first bite confirmed my suspicion that the chicken was a dry, and certainly hadn’t been marinated. The bread was rather dry too, so I recommend a drink.
The salad, however, was pretty good, with the pickles surprisingly tasty and well flavoured. I went for garlic sauce, having shunned the chilli sauce, but I couldn’t taste it.
My friend, despite unwrapping the whole thing like an amateur so it slid inelegantly out of the other end of the tortilla, was reasonably pleased with it, saying the lamb shish was tasty, but agreed that the bread was dry.
All in all, Adam’s Grill is run by a nice bunch of guys, and they’ve got lots of other dishes to choose from.
This is a very ‘Lebanese’ kebab, but it isn’t a patch on the Ranoush Juice chain. For local comparison, the lamb shish wrap wasn’t as good as Ekin on Priory Road. Similarly, the chicken schwarma wasn’t as good as Amaan’s Grill on West End Lane, which is nicely marinated and comes in freshly baked tandoori bread. And it probably isn’t a good drunken hangover-preventing fatty kebab either.
Final verdict: 5/10
I just had a chicken shwarma wrap my partner had a lamb shwarma wrap and we really liked both. Thought they were moist but a bit crispy and aromatic which you don't always get from other kebabs.
I've always preferred Lebanese style 'kebabs' and really liked that they use the thin pita, and thought the garlic sauce was nice and LOVED that they had pickles!
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I am rather suspicious with the fact that they opened and closed like 4 times in the last 2 years. It is also a concern that they still have the flashing lights that gives west hampstead a kilburn-like image.
a 'kilburn-like' image – how terrible!
God forbid, we'll have "Kilburn-like" people pounding the pavements before long.
Horrible place, go to West End Charcoal Grill instead!
This is that “skinny” little shop unit to the right of West Hampstead Station isn’t it? I call this unit the shop of death because no business that opens in it has lasted too long.