Ocakbasi, I've found you

There are lots of things I miss about the UK, though people usually give me a peculiar look when I mention that it's often the food that I pine for the most. Given that I did a fair bit of growing up there I'd say a big part of my junk food palate was defined by my adolescent binges, initially at boarding school in Exeter, then at university as a starving undergrad. While I've had some success in locating comfort snacks of the prepackaged variety, I haven't had as much luck with take away food. One kebab shop in particular.

It was a combination of factors that resulted in the rise of Ocakbasi, a non-descript kebab place in Canterbury, to become the defining establishment of my uncouth culinary experience. For one, they delivered at all hours which no doubt appealed to the English drinking public and lazy students. They were also one of the few halal restaurants, so my predominantly Malaysian muslim friends could gorge themselves guilt-free. The key point however was a magical mixture of the British willingness to serve chips with anything, topped with a curious assortment of available sauces. Thus was born the Ocakbasi chicken doner meat and chips, with burger sauce, garlic sauce and mayonnaise.



Oh yeah, it looks disgusting and you'd wake up feeling like a grease truck the morning after, but we kept going back for more.

Initially when I came to Australia I didn't find as much love for the spud in Aussie culture. Few of the kebab shops here served chips, and even if they did none were willing to honour my reasonable request to slop some kebab meat on a bed of chips. I even went as far as to buy a kebab from one store, chips from another and smack them together. It just wasn't the same though... no where near. It seemed like such a simple thing but my hankering for kebab and chips went unsatisfied for six long years.

Then it all changed. Alison and I popped by Mt Ommaney to pick up Beatles Rockband on Friday, which was when I did a double take on a menu item at Ali Baba's in the food court. They called it an "Aussie Pack" but I knew it for what it truly was... my chance to relive the Ocak. The stars must have been in alignment. They didn't have burger sauce but they did have a "grill sauce". They didn't have a garlic sauce, but even better they had a garlic mayonnaise.



The servings aren't quite as indulgent as Ocakbasi but by golly the taste was there. Now I just hope this isn't some special offer only available for a limited time. Make room in Fat City 'cos here comes Shazza!