Khalid’s Kitchen, Hastings: Middle Eastern restaurant review

The sign outside Hastings’ Priory Meadow lists its high-profile residents. M&S, Primark, H and M. Boots, Superdrug, JD Sports: heavyweights of British retail.

What’s missing is a flashing neon arrow and three foot high letters pointing to the place which has brought me back twice in two days. Something along the lines of ‘KHALID’S KITCHEN: HUMMUS MAKES YOU HAPPY.’

Perhaps- just perhaps- a town’s main shopping area might not be the first place you’d expect to find somewhere like this. After all, British town centres can often be dispiriting places to eat, can’t they? With their deep pockets, it is easy for chains to dominate the space.

But Hastings’ restaurants have an idiosyncratic streak. So here, sandwiched between Pizza Express and Marks and Spencer, is where you’ll find Khalid and Sara cooking the traditional dishes of the Middle East.

They are that rare thing: a father and daughter kitchen team. Their menu is a mix of middle eastern influences, with the biggest influences coming from Saudi Arabia and neighbouring Yemen. The prominent town centre berth demands- or at least suggests- they cater for a broad base, and whether you are eating with children or need a sizeable vegetarian and vegan menu, you’ll be well looked after, with reworked versions of staples like shawarma, kabsa and tagine making this an inclusive, welcoming space. They serve a meze breakfast from 9, too.

Rewind to February 2021. Khalid’s cooking had been popular with family and friends for years, so the enforced downtime of national lockdowns became an opportunity. From social media pages and a website, a local food delivery service was born, with the entire family chipping in. From a home kitchen three nights a week to the town centre in just over a year: it’s easy to see why this food found an audience.

‘Next time, try the kabsa and the kibbeh… oh, and the hummus!’ says my smiling server as I pay for my shawarma. I am nothing if not suggestible, although I have already decided there would be a next time. I have just sat outside (in early February- my choice, I hadn’t seen daylight since Cardiff Central) and I am leaving with a smile on my face. An impressive Arabian shawarma: shoulder of lamb marinated, sliced and pan-fried then piled onto aromatic rice, the meat an ideal mix of fat and lean, all zigzagged with tahini sauce. There’s the welcome acidity of pickles, some spankingly fresh salad, and knowing you’ve chosen well. All rather lovely after five hours on a train.

If you’re wondering how good that rice is, the next day- with a table full of samosas, hummus and kibbeh (I told you I was suggestible)- B says, ‘This is so good- I’d be happy with just a bowl of this rice and some of the salad!’

I kick myself for forgetting what a cheap date she can be, although I’m already looking forward to the leftovers for Sunday, which would make it a hat-trick of days with this cooking, and I can’t even begin to find a flaw with that plan.

Not with these samosas, delicately spiced, crisp and well-filled; not with the kibbeh’s parcels of bulgar wheat and spiced minced lamb; not with this silky hummus, sprinkled with subtly sour sumac, and the generous portion of thin khobez flatbread, perfect for folding and dredging. Oh, and have the fresh lemonade too.

Shish tawook means toum, a thick, garlicky paste (more, please- much, much more of this: not just because I am a greedy man, but because it is so very good). The skewer of chicken, peppers and tomatoes is tenderised by its yoghurt marinade and smoky from the grill and paprika, turmeric, cumin, garlic and tenderising yoghurt.

The kabsa is sumptuously tender, the sort of thing you only get from a couple of hours’ worth of long, careful cooking in a cocktail of spices and aromatics. It’s as good a kabsa as I’ve eaten anywhere, and with more of that rice it’s the sort of thing you find yourself thinking about for days after.

The shopping centre location might not promise much to the casual eye. ‘You could almost discount it because of its location’ says B. ‘I’ve always been curious about it, but never been in’, one of the town’s most creative chefs tells me. It might sit next to Pizza Express, but both times it’s busier than its multinational neighbour. The staff, to a person, look happy to be there. More than that: proud. Khalid’s Kitchen confounds any preconceptions to be that simple thing: a place which makes people happy, a pleasant space where smiling people bring you good things to eat.

And when you bring it all down to what really matters, isn’t that as good as it gets?

Monday & Tuesday 9am-5pm
Wednesday to Saturday 9am-9pm
Sunday Closed

Unit SU46, Priory Meadow Shopping Centre, Hastings TN34 1PH

http://www.khalidskitchen.co.uk/