Chef's Corner

I'm not sure I'd agree with the last review (which does, admittedly, date from eighteen months ago) that this place represents value for money. While the chips and so on are reasonably priced, a small mixed kebab - which I ordered merely because the large costs over £5 - still came to more than £4. Considering that, said kebab consisted of a pitiful serving of not-great-quality meat in the bottom of a small pitta bread; neither the quality nor the quantity of the food served reflected the price paid. The food itself wasn't awful, but it wasn't anything spectacular and there simply wasn't enough of it.

I'd recommend the van which has just reappeared down St. Ebbe's street, but which has no identifiable name on it (thus I'm not sure if it's already listed on DailyInfo or not), for a warmer welcome and a lot better value for money.

WTD (Unverified), 30/04/10

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Don’t let the fact that you rarely see such a pretentious kebab van, promising the ‘finest, freshly cooked food’, deter you from this one. Its claims seem justified; the food is good, portions are generous and the prices are reasonable.

Chips are some of the best around; thick but not stodgy, and for £1 you get quite a few. We would advise you not to go for the chilli sauce though, or you’ll still be tasting it a lot later on.

Doner kebabs and doner burgers are £3 and £2.70 respectively, good value considering free sauce and ample salad. You also get a lot of the actual doner meat too, which is succulent and looks surprisingly appetising; it’s more than just the usual slices of what looks like grey cardboard. The same goes for a chicken doner, which is even cheaper at £2.50.

Furthermore, the staff are really friendly and the location just off Queens street is easily accessible for nearby pubs and bars, so this is recommended.

8/10.

David Wilson (Unverified), 20/10/08

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Chef’s Corner is a well located and large kebab van. Its position on Bonn Square is ideal if you are heading home through town after spending a night on Park End Street. There is a wide variety of options on the menu, including a large range of vegetarian baked potatoes.

I visited early in the evening so I cannot really gauge how good the service is later on when the staff are more harassed, but my experience was excellent. While I was taking notes for this review I was accosted by the owner, who demanded to know why I was taking down her menu. I quickly explained that I was reviewing the place and she calmed down. Her reaction did however worry me, and I think she my have mistaken me for a health inspector… Anyway she was very nice and particularly keen on students: ‘They like kebabs’ she told me, ‘they think they’re cultural’. I’m not sure this is a sentiment shared by students, but I certainly think kebabs are an underappreciated aspect of our culture.

I was served with an entirely wholesome kebab, which is essentially what you want, though in this case all the less enticing bits of meat which we all accept go into the Doner could have been ground a little finer. Other than that slight grittiness the meat was okay, it had no especially good flavour but it was good solid stuff and filled me up. The salad wasn’t up to much but it did something offset the unpleasant texture of the meat. The pitta was heated and not too bad, but having spoken to other users of this van I suspect that later in the evening they just serve it cold. They also rather overdid the sauce, possibly to cover the taste of the meat, though this actually added a slimy dimension to the roughness of the meat.

On another note I did discover an interesting fact about the Doner. Having been out early to get this review done, I had eaten a kebab before my evening's drinking started. Following this I found myself unable to be effected by alcohol. It’s as if the Doner was just soaking the stuff up. Considering the unpleasant cocktail of drinks I was consuming this is quite impressive. I think these are powerful properties of the humble kebab that merit further investigation.

Anyway, Chef’s Corner did a fine though fairly standard kebab. I wouldn’t recommend going out of your way but if you happen to be passing it’s worth a stop.

Prices:

Chips start: £1
Chips with cheese: £1.60
Burgers start: £1.80
Jacket potatoes start: £1.80
Doner Kebab: £2.50
Chicken Kebab: £3

16/02/06

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