Kebabs are great. Lots of meat, roasted on a spit over an open fire, served in a handy pitta bread pouch, with plenty of salad to make a relatively healthy & balanced takeaway meal. We drove around Felixstowe, slowing down as we passed the kebab shops, looking for the most appetising looking doner. From Walton Kebab & Pizza, past Perfect Kebab on Orwell Road, Felixstowe Grill on Bent Hill, BBQ House on the seafront to the Bodrum grill, which is positioned in a prominent spot close to the roundabout by the Aldi supermarket, so it is hard to miss. The upright doner kebab spits are easily visible from outside, so you can see what you will get, before you go inside. This is useful as the best doner is a fresh one. It should visually resemble an elephants leg, relatively light in colour, glistening as it rotates in front of a hot gas flame. To a kebab connoisseur, this would be a lovely sight to behold. It’s obviously impossible to see if you are ordering online, that’s why I always like to personally go get my kebab from the restaurant. You’d be advised to steer clear when the doner kebab on the spit looks really skinny, cold & has congealed fat streaks from the top going down the sides. At the time of our visit to the Bodrum Grill, the meat doner and the chicken doner looked a healthy size & thickness, looking better than those of the other kebab shops in the area. Neither of them were spinning and the burners were not burning. Instead they both sat cooling while the cut meat waited in the Bain Marie pots, beside the grill. This is to be expected as it’s only the really busy kebab restaurants that have them constantly rotating & cooking and that is usually during the busier times. I asked the young man behind the counter if they did my favourite Iskender Kebab and was pleased to hear that they did. The Iskender (the Turkish word for Alexander) kebab is apparently not named after the famous conqueror Alexander the Great, as some would have you believe. Mentioned first around 1867, it is trademarked by a family from Bursa, in Turkey, who have run the “Kebabci Iskender” restaurant for over a century. One of their ancestors, named Iskender, apparently invented the dish and it is therefore named after him. I’m not sure how true that is, but it’s a good story. The dish should consist of freshly cut doner meat, on a bed of warm pitta bread pieces, covered in a hot herby tomato based sauce, then doused in sizzling browned butter and topped with yoghurt. A garnish of a grilled pepper and tomato quarter should finish it off. The best I’ve ever had was from the A&A charcoal grill, on Lewes Road in Brighton, Sussex, way back in 1991. Unfortunately that incarnation of that shop has since closed down and the Iskender kebab from the Bodrum grill is good, but not quite as tasty. The warm pitta pieces were there. The doner meat was cut too thinly but tasted okay, the sauce was not tomatoey enough or flavoursome enough and there was not enough of it. The yoghurt was okay. There was no grilled pepper & tomato quarters and I didn’t get a hint of herbs from the butter. So all in all, even though I ate every last morsel, the dish was nice, but due to my high expectations, it could have been better. We also ordered a mixed doner (meat doner & chicken doner) and this was served in a pitta, placed into a lidded polystyrene box. To say the portion size was large, is an understatement. It was a huge portion. We asked for separate salad, which was abundant, crisp & fresh. The side order of large chips had a generous amount of hot, crispy golden chips which we really enjoyed. The doner meat tasted fine. No better or worse than most other kebab shops but again I’d say that the meat doner slices were a little bit too thin. The chicken doner was fine. As far as value for money is concerned I think the Bodrum did very well. The taste was good, even if it wasn’t the best we’ve had, but we were absolutely stuffed. Iskender £8.50, large mixed doner £10.00, large chips £3.50. All in all I’d say that our kebab urge was satisfied, although the Bodrum grill is not quite up there with the legendary competitors, such as London’s “Archway Kebabs” 26 Junction Road, Archway, “Best Kebab” 131 Tottenham Lane, Crouch End, or historically the best one of the lot, which was the previous version of A&A Charcoal Grill, on Lewes Road in Brighton, which google now says exists,
so we will have to make a pilgrimage down to Brighton, just to see if they can re-create that wonderful Iskender kebab of 1991. Watch this space to find out…

Would we eat at the Bodrum kebab & grill again? Yes. Would we recommend it to a friend? Yes.

Located on a corner, on the main road that links Felixstowe & Walton. You can easily miss it if you are driving away from Felixstowe, as it’s almost around the corner & you have to look backwards to see it as you pass it. Outside appearance is nice & clean with big clean windows and a bright interior. 

Friday is the busiest evening for  any chippy so I was happy to see that there were only 2 oldy customers waiting inside when I rocked up. I suspect the owners aren’t very happy with that level of customer numbers, but hey, they may get busy later. 

The menu is pretty big for a chippy, with all the usual fish, chips, pies, saveloy & sausages. Additional items included a selection of burgers (chicken & beef), as well as a small number of veggie food options. A large handwritten sign over the fryers also advertised fried battered halloumi, showing that they’re up with the times, making the most of a current fad. There were a couple of chairs for waiting, spaced out possibly for covid phobics. Other two customers had obviously already ordered, or just liked to loiter in a warm fishy smelling place, so I spoke to one of the two white spotty (actually not at all spotty) teenage girls behind the counter. She pleasantly & efficiently took my order & money. Not as chatty as an owner-operator would be, but not unfriendly. She did ask if I wanted salt & vinegar on any of them. Of course! Yes! How can anyone refuse salt & vinegar on their fish & chips? The owner may have been the dark complexioned guy at the back, speaking with the dark complexioned woman working the fryers. I ordered 3 regular cod & chips, 1 regular haddock & chips, plus 4 gherkins. I popped to the “spar” type convenience shop a few doors along, to buy some deodorant & vinegar. I came back & 5 mins later my order was ready. It took no more than 10mins from ordering to getting my food. I was handed a paper carrier bag containing 5 separately paper wrapped items. I took this nice warm package to the car & within 5 minutes we were sat at the dining table, opening up to find our warm steaming fish & chips. Everything was obviously freshly cooked. Except the gherkins. These were nice & crunchy. I hate it when the gherkins aren’t crunchy, so full makes for these ones. The flavour of the gherkins had a nice sweetness, with just enough sharpness to the vinegar.  The fish sat on top of the chips, which were overflowing out of a small shallow styrofoam tray.  They were smart enough to put a piece of grease proof paper between the chips & the fish, which kept them all separate, but together. The fish was a generous size for a regular and there were more than enough chips too. I didn’t need to order the large options. The chips were cooked perfectly. A nice golden colour. Soft enough centres, to enjoy, but also crispy on the ends, with some small crispy bits here & there. I ate every single chip and only separated out two small bits that were grey on the inside, but not so much grey as to put me off. The batter, of an even thickness & fully covering the fish, with some soft soggy bits too, was perfect. I had to eat every part of that. Underneath the batter the fish was succulent, perfectly cooked and basically faultless. The skin had been left on the bottom, but this had been properly cleaned and I didn’t feel the need to peel it off. Everything went down the hatch that is my mouth, and it was a very nice experience. One that I will probably repeat this coming Friday too. Yummy yum yum. Verdict from the family was all positive. Probably one of the best we’ve had. 

We paid a total of around £37, so this was not a cheap meal, but no more expensive than most other chippys. The gherkins were 60p each, the regular fish was £6.40 and the chips were £2.30 a portion. Yes, I will definitely be going back & also recommending the Bounty to friends & family. Bountiful portions, bountiful flavour.