Hi-Lo Kebab: Hossein meets Behrouz

There was a time when the only place you could grab decent kebabs was in the original Behrouz in a tiny side street along Timog. This is going to date me, but I ran across it right after a drunken spree in nearby Club Dredd during my crazy college days. Yep, when Club Dredd was still around. The Behrouz shack did not even have a sign. It was open-air dining with rickety tables and chairs, mismatched plates and utensils, suspect looking glasses (I normally ask for a straw and Christian laughs at my hypocrisy: who’s to say that the straws are not recycled?! Heaven forbid.) and sullen, dazed waitresses. No meal is complete without a stray cat brushing against your legs, hoping for some dole-out.

Just recently hubby and I visited old Behrouz to satisfy an intense craving for kebabs. I was surprised to find out that they were renovating and making the place decidedly swankier. I also noted a bevy of SUVs and Explorers now parked outside…there seems to have been an upgrade of patrons.

But regardless of the fact that it was mid-renovation, people still ate in the makeshift tables and chairs, lit by a lightbulb on a string, right beside piles of dry cement. Talk about drawing power. Freakin’ unbelievable. So we plunked our asses down and placed our orders, for as far as I’m concerned it would be chaos if I didn’t get my kebab fix and the air-conditioned Behrouz franchise branches in Metrowalk and Wilson absolutely don’t count.

We ordered beef kebabs, grilled onions and tomatoes, the bread, hummus and ofcourse, the brain. Hubby likens it to a Persian DIY hamburger – the brain takes the place of cheese. For a full meal with multiple rounds of kebab we shelled out an amount in the vicinity of 400-500. The kebabs and hummus cost 30 pesos and the brain, 40 pesos.



Nowadays there’s a whole slew of Persian restaurants in the metro. I consider Ziggurat in the Burgos Makati district to be in the midi range, price-wise. Frankly I find it okay, nothing to crow about. The dish that saves them is the Tuna Tikka, the tuna served in big, thick chunks. But then again at 260 pesos a stick – it damn well should have thick chunks, right? I guess the thing with Ziggurat is that I am always confused by their menu which reads like a page from an encyclopedia. It’s crammed with dishes and I am always wary of places that offer more dishes than you would care to read. I like the ones with spare menus – where every entrée is well thought out and perfected. The rugs and throw pillows likewise could use a good airing out (warning: no chairs here, baby) and in our last foray Christian had an instant attack of hives. My friend Jay ordered the beef curry and likened it to “Indian mechado” which cracks me up to this day.



On the High side there’s Hossein’s Persian Kebab which is a fast favorite. Expect to spend at least 800-1,000 pesos per person. Okay, I know – for kebabs that you can get as low as 30 pesos a stick at Behrouz, it’s a bit of a stretch, right? But truly it is worth the price. Hubby and I spent our Christmas Day dinner date there and couldn’t have been happier. We ordered lamb kebabs, biryani (long-grained yellow rice with Persian essence), fried brain – paired with roti channai, hummus and masala curry and best, Jujeh Tandori (chicken thighs and wings marinated in tandori masala, yoghurt and Indian spices). The only drawback was that the brain cost like 5x++ higher (290 pesos!?!) than Behrouz (essentially the same, really – still fantastic) and we had to pay 30 pesos for the garlic sauce which normally comes free in other restaurants. Hossein’s just recently opened a branch at The Fort Strip – better parking than the old Makati avenue place.



So would you go for the Hi-Medium or Lo option on the kebabs? I’d say go low. But if you really want tiptop, better to invest on the high side. But that’s me so you decide.

P.S. Christian’s bestfriend Red and wife Gigit gave us a shisha pipe complete with apple, strawberry, lemon flavored tobacco and charcoal. I don’t smoke and hubby quit many moons ago but I am titillated with the idea of a Persian shisha shindig. I wonder if these kebab places cater? But then again that will probably happen when baby is atleast 5 which is a looooooong time from now.