All hail Paz, the Kebab King

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The famous Kebab King TV and Paz’s trademark smile!

Awesome nosh, drunken banter and, of course, Fallowfield legend Paz are things we all love about Kebab King. On a freezing Saturday night, Paz kindly invited me to experience life in his famous takeaway. We started with a few quick-fire questions:

How long has Kebab King being going for?

We started it over 20 years ago – we’ve been here the longest in the area.

Have you always worked in kebab shops?

I used to work at a post office but I hated the 9 to 5 days.

What’s your most popular menu item?

Kebabs, then the cheesy chips and gravy – a customer actually introduced that to us!

How long has the TV with the customer photos been around?

Five or six years, showing the Kebab King archives – you see clubs with that sort of thing now, but we started it all.

Happy customers!

Could have done her, rather Doner

With a contagious air of passion and enthusiasm, Paz fondly recalls some of his favourite customer tales.

“A girl came in the other day, threw me a camera and said ‘ere Paz record this, will you?’. Next thing I know, she’s standing on the table with her mates doing a Harlem Shake!

“Another time, a lad came in wearing his boxers; he told me he was having a night with a girl, but he’d seen the Kebab King lights through the bedroom window and came over here instead!

“Then we had a girl who said she’d been recognised at a club by a lad who’d seen her photo on our TV screen!”

There’s worldwide love for Kebab King – Ian and Benjamin from the US enjoy the company

Lettuce meat the customers

Some interesting characters showed their faces tonight as well – two that come to mind are a lad I’ll call Steve and the guy he kept calling Wendy.

“What the fuck are samosas?” Steve yelled. “Shurrup, I’ve ordered now”, Wendy shouted back. “And what’s that green shit?!” Steve slurred. “That’s lettuce mate”, Paz calmly interjected, clearly more than used to lads like Steve and Wendy after 20 years in the business.

Two attractive lasses show off their goods, while a lad behind picks his nose

Other customers managed to string a few more words together and had great things to say about their Kebab King – Ben, who bought cheesy chips and gravy for him and his girlfriend, said: “The best thing is that Paz is here all the time, whether it’s raining, snowing or the holidays”.

Gio kept it short and sweet, chanting “Kebab King WOOP WOOP!!”, while Naomi proclaimed: “Whenever we’re hungry, we’re like – ‘Kebab King!’”

More highlights of the night include a surprisingly cheerful group of lads who’d lost their house keys and a wasted bloke who staggered in demanding a free carrier bag.

Hugh and Gio pose with the big boss himself

Absolutely kebabulous!

Even at 5am, being the top bloke that he is, Paz still has the same upbeat energy he’d had when he started nearly six hours ago. It’s easy to see how much he enjoys his work.

“I love working with students, it’s great fun. As well as a kebab man, I’ve been an agony aunt for everyone, and we’ve had loads of posters and stuff sent to us from students who’ve left uni, thanking us for serving them”.

And what does the future hold? “More of the same!”, Paz replies. So booze in peace fellow Mancunians – our Kebab King will be around for a long time to come!

Huge thanks to Paz and the lads for their kindness and hospitality during my time at Kebab King!

The Kebab King doing what he does best!

The team photo, from the left: Imtiaz, Saqrib, Raz, Paz and Paz’s son, the Kebab prince, Hamza