Off the grill
The past two months, I’ve been regularly attending dance classes or, I suppose, the right thing to say is cardio and exercise. However, I feel my intention was really to set aside time for myself, whatever the activity it is. It used to be swimming and yoga, so I guess dancing is my newest happy activity. It helps that after class, my friends Vince and Kim Dy dine out and discover restaurants in our neighborhood. Last week, Vince brought us to a place called Shah Kebab.
Shah Kebab, which has been around for about a year now, is located at Abad Santos in San Juan. This is a quaint, no-frills, maybe eight- 10-seater restaurant that primarily services delivery orders.
Shah Kebab is a passion project of Bobby Khazaie, who initially came to Manila 15 years ago from Iran. He came to study and eventually work in the field of photography and graphic design. Here he decided to build his career, establish his businesses and settle down when he married eight years ago. Being here for so long, he was motivated to perfect recipes from taste memory. Initially it was to perfect them for personal use in their household, until the pandemic hit. The pandemic unfortunately affected Khazaie’s other businesses, thus requiring him to create other sources of income. This drove Khazaie to start offering his kebabs to neighbors, family and friends, then eventually, online for delivery.
“There was a lot of trial and error involved.” Khazaie mentions that perfecting these recipes took time but eventually paid off. The true essence of Shah Kebab is to offer quality, value for money and authentic Persian kebabs. And by authentic, he means, “oily, juicy and tender.”
My personal go-to orders at Shah Kebab are the smooth and creamy hummus with pita (P190) and the double beef kubideh (P260) made from ground beef with spices, served with basmati rice, grilled tomatoes and chili.
My newest discovery is the green chicken (P250), marinated chicken fillet in a special blend of pistachio, walnut and organic vegetables, which gives it that unique green color. It was surprisingly tasty and I should have ordered more. One thing at Shah Kebab is you can add on additional orders per stick.
The lamb biryani was so tender it was literally falling off the bone and paired well with the garlic and chili sauces. They have two sizes: the solo lamb biryani, good for one to two persons, and a party platter lamb biryani good for four to five persons.
Interesting menu items are the Double Diamond, beef kubideh and chicken filet arranged alternately on a kebab. One more thing I have yet to try on their menu is the fish kebab.
Khazaie shares how he has so much respect for the other Persian restaurants that have paved the way by introducing Persian cuisine to the Philippine market. He has hopes and dreams of growing the business by opening more branches to be able to serve more Filipinos authentic Persian kebabs hot off the grill.
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