We don’t to get to Jaffa as often as we used to. It was, I think, the first Middle Eastern place to open on the Curry Mile (or Kebab Kilometre as it’s become). Nothing has changed. It’s still got all the look of a takeaway, with a few tables for “eat in” – order at the counter, they bring it to you. And it’s still serving up consistently good food, at bargain prices. Which probably accounted for it to be heaving with studenty looking young people this lunchtime.
Over the years, I’ve rarely looked further than the lamb sharwama. A very generous serving of tasty meat, with enough fat to keep it juicy but not so much as to give the impression that it’s one of those lurid doner kebabs. It comes with a fresh salad – shredded lettuce, onion and cucumber – and a dollop of really fiery chilli sauce. My partner has also not looked further than the mixed mezze – houmous, taboulleh, yoghurt and cucumber, yoghurt and chickpeas, olives, battata harra, onion with sumac, sliced chillis and a sweetish, tomato chilli sauce. There’s a flat bread to share. It’s all really good and, with a couple of cans, cheap at nine quid.
