The ushers brought each of us a plate of meat kebabs, gooey cardamom sweets and thick, thick coffee.
In a winning dish called durum, minced meat kebabs are wrapped with chopped onions and tomatoes in a flatbread that has been rubbed with red pepper paste.
The combination of the two, in a ratio of 2 1 in favor of the date molasses, makes a great, bold marinade for chicken and meat kebabs.
Uniquely, his van has built-in tandoor ovens that make the fresh naan bread and also flash-cook the meat kebabs.
Only men in white aprons and chef hats manage the many stalls of the night market, known for its shellfish, meat kebabs, fruit, freshly pressed sugarcane juice and, of course, the local Zanzibar pizza.
Where to Eat For lunch, you can't beat the half-dozen roadside pincho or shish kebab stands scattered around the island that offer chicken, fish or meat kebabs for about $2 a skewer.
Brochettes are widely available on the streets: chunks of skewered lamb, mutton or beef barbecued over hot coals and served with salad and bread; likewise minced meat kebabs, called kefta.
Hu Lifu, a documentary filmmaker who has spent the past year capturing Ms. Zhang's quixotic battle to save her husband, said that Mr. Xia, a middle-aged laid-off factory worker who sold grilled meat kebabs to survive, had become a vessel for pent-up fury that many Chinese feel toward a government capable of arbitrary cruelty.
Still, the unappetizing décor wasn't dissuading lunchers — South African businessmen, a well-heeled Arabic-speaking family — from savoring baghalah polo-ba-mahichech (leg of lamb cooked with broad beans and spices; 109 dirhams) and meat kebabs marinated in various yogurts.
