CITY KEBAB & CAFE

10 Pitfield St, London, N1 6HA, 020 7729 7632

There’s a certain type of girl who’s more interested in where you’re taking her rather than the fact that you are taking her there. Kanye West wrote a song about it. It rhymes with oil rigger.

The City Kebab & Café is an infallable litmus test to identify such a girl. It looks like an ordinary kebab shop, bathed in harsh neon light, with garden furniture indoors, while it’s clientele is students and boozed up Shoreditch bargoers. However, the kebabs are excellent.

The lamb shish is charred on the outside with a hint of pink in the middle, the pitta is perfectly toasted and the chili sauce is smokey and freshly made.

The end result is only just shy of the awesome grills at Turkish food meccas such as Mangal in Stoke Newington or Tas Firin on Hackney Road (both well worth a visit, incidently).

The freshly made and fried-to-order felafal is another matter: if there’s a better chickpea fritter in London, it’s a very well kept secret.

Anyone who can’t see past the surroundings, not to mention the bill, which will always be under a tenner, and recognise The City Kebab & Café for what it is – honest food done very well – is probably impressed by membership of Shoreditch House.

So if your past the first few dates, try it and find out what they’re really like.