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Yadas – an excellent, ramshackle little Kurdish joint down a grimy, cobbley back street opposite Peckham Rye station – could kindly be described as ‘marketing averse’. First opening in 2015, they unceremoniously closed up shop after six months or so. That was that, we thought. But lo! With zero fanfare, they’ve reappeared, now with a gazebo frontage and as little dedication to such service industry fripperies as websites, signage and reliable opening times as before.
But who cares when the food is this plentiful, and good? Plates of lamb and chicken shawarma are piled high with fragrant meat, subtly funky with garlic, lemon and pomegranate molasses. Kubba (rice patties stuffed with lamb and nuts) are robust and flavoursome – and, until now, something I’ve only ever eaten home-cooked at an Iraqi friend’s house. A mixed platter features all three, a steal at £20 for two. Best of all is the qawarma lamb flatbread: a dense wrap of lightly spiced kofte, cheese, pickles and garlic sauce that might just be London’s finest sandwich (albeit one that, on my last visit, was perplexingly sweet; we’ll put that down as an anomaly). Oh yeah, and they do Irn Bru shisha, if you weren’t sold already. In a postcode awash with try-hard hipster joints, Yadas is a humble little gem – whether they want you to know it or not.