Is Kebab Queen London’s Most Unique Chef’s Table Experience?
- James Massoud
- Apr 13
- 4 min read
Hidden beneath the façade of a kebab shop in Covent Garden, Kebab Queen offers one of London’s most unusual dining experiences. This 10-seat chef’s table strips away the formality of fine dining – quite literally – serving an immersive Levantine tasting menu directly onto the counter. Led by chef Pamir Zeydan, the experience blends Turkish heritage, British seasonal produce and theatrical counter dining to reimagine one of the world’s most beloved dishes: the kebab.
In a city obsessed with chef’s tables, counters and tasting menus, Kebab Queen asks a provocative question: what happens when you remove the formality entirely?
A Chef’s Table With No Plates
The first surprise is the lack of crockery. At the centre of Kebab Queen’s concept is a radical service style: food arrives directly onto the counter itself, without plates or bowls.
At first it feels almost mischievous, like breaking a rule you didn’t realise existed. Then it becomes something else entirely. Diners tear, dip and scoop instinctively, engaging with the food in a way that feels primal rather than precious.
It’s a clever dismantling of fine-dining etiquette. Strip away the porcelain and silverware and suddenly the experience becomes more human, less about ceremony and more about appetite. Conversation loosens. The chefs move just inches away. Flames lick the grill while aromas of smoke, spice and roasting meat fill the room.
This isn’t dinner and a show, you are part of the performance.
Behind the Curtain
The theatre begins before you even sit down.
Guests arrive at what looks like a polished kebab shop façade, then ring a doorbell before being quietly ushered through a prep kitchen and into the hidden dining space below.
The room itself feels conspiratorial, a secret revealed only to those who know where to look. Ten cobalt blue leather stools form a tight ring around an open kitchen. Stainless steel walls evoke a kebab shop, yet pastel pink curtains and tiled floors soften the industrial edge, giving the room a strangely intimate warmth.
The proximity is deliberate, there are no barriers here. Every flick of the knife, every char on the grill, every swirl of sauce happens within arm’s reach.
In other restaurants you watch chefs cook. At Kebab Queen, you inhabit their workspace.
The Chef Reimagining the Kebab
Guiding the experience is Executive Chef Pamir Zeydan, whose cooking draws on Turkish, Kurdish and Mediterranean influences filtered through a fine-dining lens.
Born in Turkey, Zeydan’s philosophy is deeply personal. His cooking celebrates bold flavours but resists excess, favouring balance, seasonality and thoughtful sourcing. British produce forms the backbone of the menu, while Levantine traditions shape its soul.
Before arriving at Kebab Queen, he honed his craft alongside chefs connected to culinary icons such as Paul Bocuse and Alain Passard, experiences that helped shape his ingredient-first approach.
His role here is more than simply executing dishes. Zeydan is shaping the restaurant’s next chapter, evolving the concept while protecting the playful irreverence that defines it.
The result is cooking that feels both rooted and experimental; comfort food elevated without losing its identity.
A Journey Through the Menu
The tasting menu unfolds like a story told in flavours.
It might begin with something delicate; a mushroom cornetto, paired with wild mushrooms and thyme honey tea, before moving through dishes that reinterpret Levantine classics.
There’s a sun-dried aubergine dolma, rich with deep Mediterranean warmth, followed by fermented tarhana soup served alongside brioche and smoked butter. Then the pace quickens.
A monkfish kebab arrives smoky and bold. Ox cheek manti delivers deep, comforting richness. And eventually the meal builds towards its centrepiece: the Iskender kebab, a dish that quietly anchors the entire experience.
Dessert arrives as a soft landing; date cake and delicate mignardise that echo the spices and sweetness woven through the menu.
It’s an eight-course journey that moves between nostalgia and invention, reminding diners that kebabs – perhaps the world’s most democratic dish – can also carry the sophistication of a tasting menu.
The Story Behind the Counter
Kebab Queen itself was born from a simple obsession. Founders Manu Canales, Ed Brunet and Stephen Tozer spent years reimagining the kebab through their restaurant group, beginning with Le Bab in Soho.
Their idea was deceptively simple: treat kebabs with the same care and technique found in Michelin starred kitchens. But Kebab Queen pushes the idea even further. Here, the kebab becomes both subject and metaphor – a symbol of global food culture, street-food nostalgia and fine-dining precision all at once.
So… Is It London’s Most Unique Chef’s Table?
London isn’t short of chef’s tables, but very few feel like this. Where most counter dining experiences lean towards polished exclusivity, Kebab Queen flips the script entirely. It replaces refinement with playfulness, distance with intimacy, and ceremony with instinct.
You don’t just watch the food being made, you tear into it with your hands. And somewhere between the smoke of the grill, the hum of conversation and the quiet brilliance of a perfectly executed kebab, you realise something unexpected: This might just be one of the most fun tasting menus in the city.
