Thame food blogger off on ‘The Flavour Trail’ but….

“WHATEVER corner of the planet I end up in, I will never find a kebab which tops Atalay’s,” says Thame born and bred foodie, Dominic Stanway-Williams, who sets off this weekend with a one-way ticket to Bangkok. He is determined to scour South East Asia high and low for the best grub the continent has to offer and will be documenting his discoveries along the way.

But even before leaving English soil Dominic believes he has already found one dish which will not be topped and swears that no matter where he goes, he will not find a better kebab than those served up at Thames’ very own Atalay van.

Dominic Stanway Williams with one of the famous Atalay Thame kebabs

Dominic’s love of food stemmed from cooking with his mother as a child, and it has been ever present since then with jobs on the Waitrose delicatessen and as a sous chef in the Spread Eagle hotel. His passion fuelled a food blog throughout his time at university but he’s now looking to take this one step further with his new website: ‘The Flavour Trail’ which he will use to detail his experiences throughout Asia. Below is a review taken from his site about one of Thame’s most popular takeaway options:

“The common kebab provides a great, greasy divide in culinary opinion. To some it epitomises the depths those unconcerned with fine-dining will sink to in pursuit of sustenance; to others, it marks the end all of comfort consumption, the titillating climax to an evening on the tiles.”

“The Ataly kebab van which frequents the Oxfordshire town of Thame is anything but divisive.”

‘It’s 7pm on Friday evening and despite the wealth of Chinese and Indian takeaways on offer it feels like half the town have turned out. Looking around it’s clear that my peers are by no means ending their evenings but in are fact exuding a collective and very sober yearning for high-quality, week-concluding nosh.

‘The sundry of accompaniments before me shames even the most chic of deli counters, typified by a lovingly-made chunky chilli sauce I’ve told tales of across the land. A flatbread is toasted against the grill and packed with steaming shavings from the rotating spit alongside my chosen ensemble of sauces and salads. The potent aroma that’s been tantalising everyone in range is finally delivered directly to me and I raise the paper package to my nostrils as if smelling a fine cigar.

The first bite sends a torrent of flavour down my gullet, a joyous fusion of peppery cabbage, creamy garlic sauce and velvety lamb cut with a tangy coriander kick. By the second bite I’ve surrendered to a dreamy meaty comatose state, one which I hope will never end’.

Will Dominic find that opinion-changing kebab? Or will the flavours of South East Asia keep him sufficiently distracted? Find out on his website ‘The Flavour Trail’ at www.ontheflavourtrail.com which will be going live any day!