Over the years, the local restaurants come and go. We still mourn the passing of the Oregano in Oakleigh Road North, and have been looking for a local eatery that you can go into and not be concerned about having to pay out an arm and a leg, and get some decent food. It used to also be the Lantern in the High Road in Whetstone, but that became a Greek that only lasted a few weeks, and now is a somewhat upmarket Indian.
For some time we had ignored the BBQ grill, but ended up there one evening some time ago when we could not get into the bar at the Haven, and this was the only place that did not suck teeth when we just wanted to drink and not have a meal. As the food looked good, and it turned out that the restaurant part was being run by a favoured old hand from the old Lantern, we were up for giving it a go. This occasion is now the second time, and the place has now become a friends meeting place for an inexpensive meal
There is a web page on http://www.bbqgrillwhetstone.co.uk/and also information on http://www.allinlondon.co.uk/restaurants/restaurant-12913.php and most of the comments there are pretty enthusiastic. It is a small place that has also had a few incarnations, and the top level functions as a takeaway kebab shop and restaurant and there are facilities downstairs that we have not explored yet. Unlike some similar layout kebab shops, the restaurant actually can get pretty full, and there seems to be a loyal local clientele of families and workers. It looks like a family run affair, and the lady of the house is often seen stressing about trying to make customers happy. It is very friendly and you cannot help but think that they appreciate the custom. Despite what the banners say the venue is traditionally Cypriot and the menu is short and also traditional. The restaurant is utilitarian rather than decorous and it could probably benefit from a few pictures or other relevant decorations.
For starter, I had the fried Calamari:
The serving was actually bigger than this but I only thought about taking a picture part of the way through eating it. It was hot, fresh and to me tasted like fried calamari should. It was also quite hot scoring a nine on the CHOF scale.
For main course I ordered shish kofte with chips. It could have come with either salad or rice as alternative.
This photograph taken with my Samsung mobile phone does not do the dish true justice. I know that a lot of people would not agree with me but the cameras on mobile phones are simply not as good as purpose-built cameras. Yes they may have lots of pixels, the same as a proper camera, but they don't have optics that are good. You cannot beat a protected purpose built multielement zoom lens from a decent maker. Mobile phone cameras make a lot of guesses, and in my experience suffer with quite a bit of flare around the edges especially in bright scenarios such as taking a picture of white plate. They can also not be so great in dim light, and the inbuilt flash devices are a bit of a joke for emergency assistance only. Nevertheless, that is what I have with me on the occasion and I upload my pictures via dropbox service and I can edit them on my computer.
Now to the meal. As the restaurant functions as a kebab house you can see the food is freshly cooked. Quantities are very generous and it scores and nine plus on the CHOF scale. My only reservation about these kofte is that I am more accustomed to the version that one might get in a Turkish kebab house, and this Cypriot version is not quite as spicy, which is my natural preference. I am not criticising what was served here, as it was excellent. I have had their mixed grill before, and the plate was so huge that I had to have a doggy bag to go home with.
In the six months we have been going there, they have not had their coffee machine repaired, if it ever worked in the first place, and the best they could come up with was a cup of instant. However, regular diners are often rewarded with a drink on the house. Basically these people come over as not trying to make the last buck from every diner. The bill was extremely reasonable, and one can expect to have a two course meal with a drink for about £15.
We will definitely be going back there again.
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