Kebab Kings
Wednesdays, 8.30pm, SBS
IT HAS long been a joke that late at night after a night on the town there is nothing better than a kebab before you head home.
They’re everywhere – I remember staying out at Lightning Ridge and walking home from the club one night to find a kebab stand working out of a caravan on a vacant lot.
But what goes on in your average kebab shop?
That’s the premise of the three-part “fly on the wall” SBS show Kebab Kings.
Narrated by the current Mr Everywhere Shane Jacobson (taking over from Max Cullen and Bill Hunter – remember when it didn’t seem like you could make a television show without either of those guys?) this is a chance to see what goes on in the world of the fast-food kebab store.
It’s also a chance to see multi-cultural Australia at its best and worst.
This series follows the staff and customers at two of Australia’s most popular kebab shops across three of the busiest weeks of the year leading up to Christmas.
The cameras capture what goes on behind the spit at Oz Turk in George Street Sydney, a notorious inner city strip carrying the nickname ‘The Angry Mile’, and Smith Kebabs in Melbourne’s newest hipster capital brimming with new bars and clubs, Collingwood.
And it’s not just the customers under the microscope, either. The fascinating show also delves into the lives of the kebab shop owners and staff and the challenges they face as their beliefs and values are put to the test.
This is an interesting look into multi-cultural Australia and into places that have now become an iconic part of Australian culture. It’s at times funny, heart-warming and interesting and maybe just a little confronting but most definitely worth a look.
– Tania Phillips
