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photo credit: Alex Stanlioff
Shashlik House
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Some restaurants are like a pair of super cozy pajamas. Maybe nothing has gone right for you in the past 24 hours and you’re in desperate need of comfort. Maybe you actually had the best day ever and just want to bask in your own glory. Shashlik House is the kind of place you’ll want to go in either situation. They serve homestyle Uzbek food in a space that feels like an eat-in kitchen in an old Brooklyn apartment, except with live-fire cooking and an oven that bakes the best bread.
Shashlik House has two locations in South Brooklyn, but we like the one in Kensington best. The main draw here is kebab, and you’ll want to try a bunch of different ones before you settle on a regular order. We’re especially fond of the lula kebab, made from deeply spiced ground meat that’s shaped around the giant metal skewer it’s cooked on. We also love the simple but flavorful chicken and the extremely rich baby lamb chops.
Whatever you do, though, don’t come here thinking you can just order kebabs and be done with it. The servers will tell you you’re doing it wrong, and they’d be correct. You must also get at least one order of non, plus an achichuk salad made from sliced tomatoes and onions. These will help balance out your meat-heavy meal. When the weather is cool, there are few dishes we find more soothing than the lagman noodles at Shashlik House, so get an order of those, too. Note that you may not want to share.
Food Rundown
Lagman Noodles
Exceedingly tender braised beef swimming in an herby, richly spiced tomato broth with a generous tangle of hand-pulled noodles. You’ll definitely want this.
Kebab
Check out the glass case by the kitchen to get a sense of what they have on offer when you visit. Get whatever sounds best to you, but don’t skip the lula kebab and baby lamb chops.
Non
Shashlik house has a traditional tandyr oven, which is probably why the non here is so good. One order is good for 2-3 people who want to eat some bread, but not a ton of bread.
Samsa
These flaky meat-filled pastries are also baked in the tandyr, and they’re very, very good. We like to order more than we can eat so we have them for breakfast the next day.
Achichuk Salad
A simple salad of tomatoes and onions that’s delicious with non or kebab, or on its own.