Girl About Town - 25th July, 2003

It’s a brave move – opening yet another eaterie in Hoxton. It’s an even braver move opening a kebab house in Hoxton. But Shish Old Street manages to pull both these things off quite nicely thank you very much. Inspired by the Silk Road, the ancient trade and communication route stretching from China through to Rome that connected East to West, Shish offers a modern take on traditional dishes such as the kebab and mezze. In particular, the mezze delights; the red and green falafel, spinach and cheese borek and lamb dumplings are all fabulous with a bottle of good wine.

The mains are adventurous; our apricot, ginger chicken shish delivering strong flavours that perhaps didn’t quite work with the couscous but was, all the same, tasty. The upstairs restaurant is relaxed and informal and very busy with trendy young things (well, it is Hoxton) on the Wednesday night that we visited. On hearing that the restaurant was non-smoking, NEED2KNOW was a little alarmed, but nipping to the bar downstairs for a fag was surprisingly good fun and well worth a visit; with bar food and cocktails such as the Holy Shish. For something a little more upmarket than a doner when you stumble out of the pub, they do takeaway.