Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Shish Kebab House
1675 Carling Avenue.
February 28th, 2006
Shawarma: 4/5
Mesa: 4/5
Experience: 4/5
Once a week some buddies and me gather to jam. Not sure if we’d call ourselves a band, we don’t take ourselves too seriously, and enjoy the beer, and jokes between songs as much as playing. Once on the way over, I stopped to eat at this shawarmarie on Carling Avenue. On hour later, with my breath reeking of 2nd time garlic, my band-mates pleaded with me not to eat Lebanese before jam again. Last night, I tempted fate again.
Shish Kebab House is on Carling at the corner with Cole Street, in between Kirkwood and Maitland. It shares a mini mall with three other fast food joints: a Chinese place, a pizza joint and a submarine shop. I pity the fools who would take the others over a Lebanese place. This shawarmarie doesn’t disappoint, even if your breath won’t be fit for company.
The place is clean and well-lit, but not overly so. Almost half of the place is an ice-cream place. But I guess ice-cream isn’t a big mover in Ottawa in February and that counter was closed down. Call me crazy, but even with the wind-chill gusting to -30C outside, I could have used some good ice-cream.
But it’s the Lebanese counter that I really came for. I was disappointed to see that they didn’t have a mixed combo. Following my rule to always order off the menu, I took a beef shawarma plate. Other than beef and chicken shawarma they had some other Lebanese dishes available, but not too many. Looking at the drink fridge, which was way over on the other side of the room, I couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary, or traditionally Lebanese. There was coke and sprite, but no Vimto or Guava juice.
I did grab something for desert, however. Something the amiable guy behind the cash told me was moorah (spelling?), or sometimes called something else. Since moorah was easier to remember, I chose to remember it by that name.
By the time I had made up my mind on what to order there were two people waiting behind me. The guy at the cash just said “oh, pay me later”. My food was hot, people were waiting, why bother with formalities now? It seemed like the rational thing to do, but what fast food place, other than a shawarmarie, would do that?
The place has several tables to sit and eat, and a selection of newspapers to browse through if you’re alone. I settled into the sports section. A group of four guys were seated at the next table. Three of them were eating Chinese food from the place two doors down. The other was enjoying his shawarma. The Lebanese place was their chosen place to eat. It is inviting.
And so finally time to eat. The beef was good, but more than slightly gristly. But the tahini sauce generously drizzled on it was as good as you can find. The potatoes were nice, but maybe were a bit too mushy. The rice dish, usually my least favourite part of the meal was excellent. It was yellow due to infusion with spice and had more flavour than other shawarmaries. Safron rice? The salad was also excellent. It was a minty creamy vinaigrette. The tabouli was also good, as was the humus. The garlic sauce however was too strong, even for me, a guy who loves his garlic. At the jam, my cover will certainly be blown now.
After I had finished the whole plate, you’d think I’d be too full for the moorah. Well after one bite, I felt hunger anew. It was full of almonds and almost dripping in honey. There’s a fine line between sweet and too sweet. This came in just on the good side of that line. It was a great way to finish off a meal.
I went back to the cash to pay. They guy was full of jokes and smiles again. And he cut me a deal, I guess just because he was in a good mood. He gave me the combo price as, in his view, I had had the moorah rather than a pop, which is generally the same thing. It probably only saved me 50 cents, but it was a nice gesture to be sure.
I left well-fed, in a good mood, and sure enough, an hour later, garlic-stinky.
Shish Kebab House might not be the most traditional place around, but what it does, it does well. The shawarma is good. The service is great. And the moorah is even better.
*****UPDATE*****
September 17th, 2006: Stopped by for a quick snack. Same great food. Same great service.
****************
February 28th, 2006
Shawarma: 4/5
Mesa: 4/5
Experience: 4/5
Once a week some buddies and me gather to jam. Not sure if we’d call ourselves a band, we don’t take ourselves too seriously, and enjoy the beer, and jokes between songs as much as playing. Once on the way over, I stopped to eat at this shawarmarie on Carling Avenue. On hour later, with my breath reeking of 2nd time garlic, my band-mates pleaded with me not to eat Lebanese before jam again. Last night, I tempted fate again.
Shish Kebab House is on Carling at the corner with Cole Street, in between Kirkwood and Maitland. It shares a mini mall with three other fast food joints: a Chinese place, a pizza joint and a submarine shop. I pity the fools who would take the others over a Lebanese place. This shawarmarie doesn’t disappoint, even if your breath won’t be fit for company.
The place is clean and well-lit, but not overly so. Almost half of the place is an ice-cream place. But I guess ice-cream isn’t a big mover in Ottawa in February and that counter was closed down. Call me crazy, but even with the wind-chill gusting to -30C outside, I could have used some good ice-cream.
But it’s the Lebanese counter that I really came for. I was disappointed to see that they didn’t have a mixed combo. Following my rule to always order off the menu, I took a beef shawarma plate. Other than beef and chicken shawarma they had some other Lebanese dishes available, but not too many. Looking at the drink fridge, which was way over on the other side of the room, I couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary, or traditionally Lebanese. There was coke and sprite, but no Vimto or Guava juice.
I did grab something for desert, however. Something the amiable guy behind the cash told me was moorah (spelling?), or sometimes called something else. Since moorah was easier to remember, I chose to remember it by that name.
By the time I had made up my mind on what to order there were two people waiting behind me. The guy at the cash just said “oh, pay me later”. My food was hot, people were waiting, why bother with formalities now? It seemed like the rational thing to do, but what fast food place, other than a shawarmarie, would do that?
The place has several tables to sit and eat, and a selection of newspapers to browse through if you’re alone. I settled into the sports section. A group of four guys were seated at the next table. Three of them were eating Chinese food from the place two doors down. The other was enjoying his shawarma. The Lebanese place was their chosen place to eat. It is inviting.
And so finally time to eat. The beef was good, but more than slightly gristly. But the tahini sauce generously drizzled on it was as good as you can find. The potatoes were nice, but maybe were a bit too mushy. The rice dish, usually my least favourite part of the meal was excellent. It was yellow due to infusion with spice and had more flavour than other shawarmaries. Safron rice? The salad was also excellent. It was a minty creamy vinaigrette. The tabouli was also good, as was the humus. The garlic sauce however was too strong, even for me, a guy who loves his garlic. At the jam, my cover will certainly be blown now.
After I had finished the whole plate, you’d think I’d be too full for the moorah. Well after one bite, I felt hunger anew. It was full of almonds and almost dripping in honey. There’s a fine line between sweet and too sweet. This came in just on the good side of that line. It was a great way to finish off a meal.
I went back to the cash to pay. They guy was full of jokes and smiles again. And he cut me a deal, I guess just because he was in a good mood. He gave me the combo price as, in his view, I had had the moorah rather than a pop, which is generally the same thing. It probably only saved me 50 cents, but it was a nice gesture to be sure.
I left well-fed, in a good mood, and sure enough, an hour later, garlic-stinky.
Shish Kebab House might not be the most traditional place around, but what it does, it does well. The shawarma is good. The service is great. And the moorah is even better.
*****UPDATE*****
September 17th, 2006: Stopped by for a quick snack. Same great food. Same great service.
****************
# posted by Ottawa shawarma @ 10:27 AM 
Comments:
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If you expect a smile or pleasant greeting when you look to eat out, do not go here. The owner of this place is a huge you know what. He is rude, condescending and will patronize you if you point it out. Then came the food. This was the WORST shawarma I've had in Ottawa in recent years and I have been everywhere and have had bad ones. The portions were small and ingredients were bland leaving me completely unsatisfied and feeling ripped off.
DO NOT EAT HERE AND SUPPORT THEIR BUSINESS!
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If you expect a smile or pleasant greeting when you look to eat out, do not go here. The owner of this place is a huge you know what. He is rude, condescending and will patronize you if you point it out. Then came the food. This was the WORST shawarma I've had in Ottawa in recent years and I have been everywhere and have had bad ones. The portions were small and ingredients were bland leaving me completely unsatisfied and feeling ripped off.
DO NOT EAT HERE AND SUPPORT THEIR BUSINESS!
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