4 meals in 7 days eating at a little shawarma house in a strip mall when you are traveling from sunny California to Kanata, ON for Xmas is a lot. We braved snow, sleet, ice to trek to this shiny gem of a place when our bellies craved their tender and succulent sliced pieces of beef and chicken shawarma (husband's pick) along with probably the best falafel I've had to date (me: the Wifey's pick).
I would say yes, we are connoisseurs of, what do you call these...pita houses? Shawarma houses? Hummus houses and can eat middle eastern 7 days a week. It's been our go to cuisine at home as well as when we travel. On this trip in particular, there was a pattern. Day one, for a late lunch, we scurried into extreme pita while in the throes of holiday Xmas shopping and as the husband's commentary goes, "compared to subway, it's fine dining!" The second day, we found Shawarama house. It's blocks away from my sister in law's house which made our obsession easier to indulge even as we weathered 2 snow storms while we were staying with them. Short, scary, slippery drive, happy bellies.
When you order take out, they load up the to go containers to the point of food bulging out of it, enough to feed two or even three! Generous portions for sure! Being a huge fan of the garlic sauce, I'd say their recipe tops the charts. Consistency is good, can work on getting it to be a bit fluffier, but the amount of garlicky-ness is spot on. The only suggestion I would give is the pita bread. Change it. It was average. Quite thin by American standards. As the husband says, they clearly are not invested in the pita bread being a part of the overall dining experience. It was thin, flimsy and forgettable to us folk who love integrating toasted pita into our shawarma meal.
The service is friendly, the place is clean and inviting and the food is top notch. It is authentic and fresh, speedy and inexpensive...and if we lived locally, we'd be there probably 5 times a week!
Now that we sound like a bunch of pita freaks, go try them if you live in the area. I would not call them a destination joint but if you are local, they should be a part of your weekly repertoire.
Oh, no docking in stars, but just a suggestion, I'd start the long rubber slip mats closer to the door in this gnarly snowy weather. Almost slipped on the way out!
Ps. Just a follow up thought. The thinness of the pita makes sense for all the wraps on the menu. It would be a bit ridiculous to expect them to invest in thicker pita just for dipping and crunching purposes. read more