THE Persian Palace, festooned with red lighting, draws diners away from the other kebab houses along the dilapidated main street in West Ealing.

An impromptu meal out one evening led me into this Middle Eastern restaurant, but it's one I won't be visiting again for a while.

As I walked in it was refreshing to see one of the staff flipping and kneading the Persian bread, placing it over what looked like a cushion in view of people walking on the street, before it was baked in a ceramic oven and served.

But after a few minutes my presence still hadn't been acknowledged by any of the waiters and waitresses, who were rushing round a seemingly quiet restaurant.

So I had to pipe up and ask for a table for two. At last I was seated at the back of the restaurant. When my partner arrived he was not impressed with the location and asked to move closer to the other diners. We then had to wait a while before our order was taken for drinks, starters and main dishes. Once the food came, though, there was nothing to complain about.

We started with Olviyeh, a dish of diced chicken, gherkins, eggs, potatoes, carrots and peas in light mayonnaise, which sounds like one of my mum's concoctions to use up all the leftovers in the fridge, but it was pleasant and came in a paste form.

You could taste all the individual ingredients and feel the different textures of the meat and vegetables.

We also opted for the traditional favourite of hummous (puréed chickpeas, tahini, garlic and lemon juice) with two portions of taftoon bread; this was brought out in a basket stacked high and we did well to get through it all.

For my main course I went for a mixture of lamb and chicken (momtaz) - two skewers of meat served with rice, grilled tomato and salad.

The meat was dripping in its juices and so well cooked that you hardly had to chew before being hit with the meaty taste. The rice was fluffy and came sprinkled with saffron and a knob of butter and, accompanied by the salad and grilled tomato, was a perfectly balanced dish.

We just couldn't get over the size of the portion and struggled to finish.

My partner had ordered kabab-e-barg - marinated lamb fillet basted in butter and served with rice, grilled tomato and salad. Again, the portion was wholesome and the meat tender with a salty aftertaste.

We couldn't manage any desserts, not even the sorbets or ice-creams, and paying just over £10 for a glorified kebab did sound a lot, but it was worth every penny.

For a quick bite to eat and if you don't mind the lack of personal service and waiting for your presence to be acknowledged, Persian Palace is okay.