Sherman's Food Adventures: Soho Road Naan Kebab

Soho Road Naan Kebab

Once again, a meal did not satisfy me. Nope. I was still hungry after a visit to Sunset Burgers. Since we still had time on the meter, I convinced Vandelay to take a walk with me in search of more food. Time for second lunch! So with no plan and no particular ideas for my second wind of eating, we roamed the streets of Downtown aimlessly... until we noticed a food cart in front of the Law Courts. It was shiny and new, yet with no distinguishing signage. It turned out to be Soho Road Naan Kebabs which as the name suggests, naan wraps with kebabs stuffed in them. Hidden within the cart lies an actual tandoor where they make fresh naan and tandoori chicken. We were greeted by 2 friendly guys who offered us some complimentary Chai while we waited for our order. A touch sweet for our liking, yet full of spice, it hit the spot for a cold, brisk day.

Seeing how the menu only consisted of 3 items, with one being vegetarian, I went for the only 2 meat options starting with the Tandoori Chicken Naan Kebab. After a brief wait, since they prepare the naan to order in their tandoor, we received our piping hot naan kebabs. By virtue of an onsite tandoor, there was nice leoparding (or charring) on the bread. Although the chicken exhibited good flavour, it was pretty dry. And combined with the relatively chewy naan, the whole thing was screaming out for moisture. That was alleviated somewhat by the fresh and crunchy bits of cucumber, red onion and tomato. The second meat choice was the Butter Chicken Naan Kebab. By using the same meat from the tandoori chicken naan kebab, except doused with butter chicken sauce, this was a much more moist product. Since the chicken was pretty dry, the sauce was a welcomed addition. Again, with the same mix of veggies, there was a level of crunch and freshness that cut through the richness of the sauce. Now about that sauce... It was pretty thick (which was a good thing because most people eat this on the go) and did not leak out of the wrap. For what it was worth, the sauce was pretty good with a nice tang and only a mild hint of spice. Put together in a one bite, I found that this was much more successful than the tandoori chicken wrap.

Although the individual components could be improved such as the dry tandoori chicken and the overly chewy naan, when eaten as a whole, the butter chicken naan kebab was pretty damn tasty. I quickly overlooked the shortcomings and enjoyed the wrap for what it was. Hey, it doesn't hurt that Top Chef Dale Mackay considers Soho Road as one of the best food carts in the city...

The Good:
- Tandoor on site
- Freshly made naan
- Super friendly proprietor

The Bad:
- Although freshly-made, the naan could stand to be less dense
- Chicken could be more moist
- $8.00 price point is probably a touch high

Soho Road Naan Kebab on Urbanspoon

6 comments:

SixBalloons said...

The name is a bit of a mouthful eh?

Lena said...

Have you been to the food cart outside the Canada Line at Langara station? I've only seen it once, but it looks like some sort of Japanese... :D

Sherman Chan said...

@SB Yes, they really should shorten the name. Hard to remember...

@Lena Yes I have. I haven't seen it there lately. Gone maybe? Last time I went, it was Fasttrac Fusion.

Mark Davies said...

I used to live in Birmingham and believe me you wouldn't want to eat in the real Soho Rd.

Kano said...

I had the same issue with dry chicken the first time I ate here (the tandoori chicken wrap). They've since started adding a chutney sauce or two to each wrap - I forget the details but I think there's a green chutney and a white yogurt-based chutney/sauce. The last two times I tried their stuff there was no issue with dryness and the meal was excellent.

Sherman Chan said...

@Kano Okay, thanks for the info!

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