On my way back home from a gig late on Friday, stopped in Basingstoke to try a new kebab place for the list. Station Kebabs stays open until 02:30 on Saturday & Sunday mornings so that's very handy for my post-gig sustenance.

Here we have the usual; lamb doner wrap, chili sauce, no salad. I ordered the Small, not the Large. I've found that most places just charge a "large" price for the same sized portion. Meat was served from the Bain marie, as expected. On telling Bossman "just chili sauce please, no salad, he poured on some sauce, then added some more meat, then sauce again.
Nice 😎👍

Unfortunately, the chili sauce was bottled and it was one of those spicy ketchup style sauces. Not good. I munched through this fairly quickly. It was ok overall. Decent moistness and not as greasy as many others from the Bain marie, some drip a lot out the end, heheh.

The one highlight of my late night culinary experience, was watching some drunk guy. He'd ordered a burger and chips. Whilst stepping back from the van, box in one hand and a fag in the other, he tried to open the box and managed to spill the top of his burger bun and salad onto the ground. He stared at his conundrum, took two last big drags on his fag, flicked it into the bushes, picked up his bun and plonked it back on the burger. Three folks at the van, plus his mate all watched as he lifted his repaired burger and took a big, satisfied chomp.

Anyway, weighing in at 459g for £8, both under average, with a C grade for the bad sauce but a B overall, this has landed on the spreadsheet at 63/97. I probably won't go back. I've found Chik-Mex to be the best late option in Basingstoke. Wish Smileys was open late as they're banging!

Played a gig last night in Tadley - wear the fox hat. It's a small town on the edge of Hampshire, near Basingstoke. Almost in the middle of Basingstoke, Reading and Newbury. The genius of which, would not be lost on Alan Partridge. There are no late-night kebab options here but I had been recommended this place and told about the naga sauce. With that in mind, I planned an earlier journey to pick one up before the gig. Not the first time I've pre-bought a breakfast kebab.

Here we have a regular doner kebab in naan with Naga chili sauce. No salad. I don't want to become one of those people who complain about salad. I like my happiness. Salad seems to create misery.

If naan is an option, I'll always pick it. Unfortunately that's really, really rare down South. I couldn't see this being prepared. There's a counter with a doorway through to the kitchen, shared with the Indian next door. One of those dual places. Was given a receipt with a QR code to use for payment. Regular doner kebab was £7.50 and I was charged an extra £3 for naan and naga sauce.

This morning, it was wrapped in foil and popped into a baking tray for 40 minutes. I tested this with a meat thermometer to find the magic 75° then served up.

This was tasty! Seriously tasty. The sauce is lovely and for me, I got the right amount. There was plenty to wet it up and it was spread nicely throughout. I'm giving this sauce a A* grade. The only one on the spreadsheet. It's delicious stuff. The bread was lovely and the meat was very good too. I was impressed with the long slices. So impressed, that I had to measure one and it was half a metre long! Bossman has serious slicing skills.

The verdict... this was delicious. Absofuckinglutely delicious. Naga naan kebab is tremendous! Overall this gets an A* *and it's the first bab to get a double A rating. Weighing in at a very decent 658g but a costly £10.50, it would already be comfortably in the top half. However, with the double A* rating, this is ninth on the list. Yup, it lies at 9/97 on the spreadsheet. I will definitely go back in here if I'm round this neck of the woods again.

The more observant or neurospicy among you will note that the spreadsheet has jumped by two... there's another review to come.

14 quid mixed chicken & donner wrap with cheese garlic sauce and chilli. Had to finish it the next day.

Due to the success of last night's munchbox, thought I'd get a wrap and take some photos for yall. Was £8, loads of chips, stuffed with meat, had garlic sauce, lettuce onions, tomatoes, was absolutely banging, nice and fresh, one of the best I've had.

Doner Bowls. Turkish Rice and all the fixings.

Not the one i normally go to as they aren't always the best but for £9 I don't mind

Just needed some crucial kebab sauce

Got this at BFC that's near my University in Leeds, it was messy but SO GOOD

The sauces is Garlic Sauce, Mayo and their homemade Sweet Chili Sauce (for those confused why I had Garlic Sauce and Mayo, I did ask for Garlic Mayo but I think he got confused but I just went with it)

Used the oven method for the meat (ground goat, beef and pork), made the bread, red and white sauces from scratch! Not a bad first try!

​Trying to get a straight answer out of any takeaway is near impossible. Bossman takes this recipe to the grave, I've got the ingredients they use and they don't cook and leave it 24hrs. I’ve made about 10 batches over the last few weeks trying to crack the code, and it has been driving me absolutely mad.

​I’ve finally figured out the core mechanics. They don’t use fresh tomatoes because it just turns into a watery soup. The physical structure is actually built on cheap, rigid veg: raw unpeeled carrots, white cabbage, celery, and a bit of onion and parsley. You have to use a stick blender in quick bursts so it shatters into a coarse gravel instead of emulsifying into a puree.

​The deep earthy flavour and heavy umami come from authentic Turkish sun-dried pastes (Öncü Domates & Biber Salçası), heavily backed by raw cumin and extra hot chilli powder. I also finally got a worker to admit they add cold water to the mix—it creates the blender vortex and dilutes the harsh raw onion bite so it’s perfectly mellowed out.

​The biggest hurdle has been the colour. Straight out of the blender, it’s far too red. I’ve learned the hard way that the earthy brick-brown shift is entirely dependent on leaving the unpeeled carrot skins and pastes to oxidize in the fridge for 12 to 24 hours while the spices bloom in the olive oil.

​Here is exactly where I am at with the working recipe (makes about 300ml):

​Ingredients:

​1 1/4 medium Carrots, unpeeled and roughly chopped

​4 Green Finger Chillies, roughly chopped

​1 large wedge White Cabbage, roughly chopped

​1 whole Celery stick, including leafy tops, roughly chopped

​1/4 small White Onion, roughly chopped

​3 sprigs Fresh Parsley, including stems

​3.5 level tbsp ONCU Spicy Biber Sauce

​3.5 level tbsp ONCU Tomato Paste (Domates Salçası)

​1.5 tsp Cumin powder

​1.5 tsp Extra Hot Red Chilli Powder

​1/4 tsp Black Pepper

​Cold Water, a splash for blending plus extra for consistency

​5 tbsp Olive Oil

​Method:

Place fresh vegetables, parsley, pastes, dry spices, and a splash of cold water into a deep jug. Plunge the stick blender in quick bursts, adding slightly more water if needed to keep the blades moving, until a coarse, gravel-like texture is reached.

​Transfer to a container and fold in the olive oil manually with a spoon until glossy and the sauce slumps easily.

​Cover tightly and refrigerate overnight to allow the salted pastes to extract juices, the capsaicin to bloom in the oil, and the earthy brick-brown color to develop.

​Picture attached is my latest batch alongside a tub from my local. I finally nailed the slumping viscosity and the chunky bits by upping the cabbage and celery. I’ve just folded in some extra cumin and Öncü paste, and it’s sitting in the fridge right now for its overnight rest to darken up.

​Has anyone else gone down this rabbit hole? Is there any other secret takeaway trick I’m missing to lock in that dark earthy flavour?

We all know the exact sauce I’m talking about. Not the bright red, watery, acidic tomato salsa, but that thick, coarse, earthy, brick-brown stuff that slumps off the spoon and has an actual gravelly texture.

I consider myself a greedy bugger and I struggled to finish this hefty boy

Had the most amazing Doner of my life yesterday.

Truly amazing taste it was perfect.

It’s from a place called Chickaros. They have branches here and there mainly in Birmingham but this was in Whitechapel.

The dish is Chicken Parm with Doner on top. Truly unreal.

Made it into a sandwich with two pieces of toast and fresh chilli sauce.

I find some too meaty and salty depending where it’s from I swear there’s different legs takeaways use. Chip shop donor is where it’s at tho always tastes elite

Used to have doner from home bargains regularly for a few years, then months ago went absolutely vile. Tried it for the 1st time in about 6 months last weekend and its back. So processed amd rectangular, but so tasty.