Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Shawarma Palace
464 Rideau Street
August 20th, 2006
Shawarma: 5/5
Mesa: 5/5
Experience: 3/5
Sometimes hype is a big burden. Sometimes a thing gets so hyped that it can’t possibly live up to its own reputation.
“Tell me something, my friend. You ever dance with the devil by the pale moonlight?”
I remember seeing Batman in 1989. It was probably the most hyped movie ever. I waited months for the line-ups to die down. Then I finally got my chance. I took my seat and was thoroughly disappointed. It wasn’t a bad film, but with all that hype I was expecting a life changing, mind blowing experience. It was a fine 3-star film. That’s it. Now finish your popcorn and go home.
The batmobile lost a wheel and Robin laid an egg.
The word on the street for some time has been “have you tried Shawarma Palace on Rideau?” (for a look at some reviews go here). It even started showing up in local “best of” rankings. It seemed that if you wanted to try a good shawarma in Ottawa, this was the place to go. But could it live up to all the hype?
On a rainy Sunday August evening my girlfriend and I stopped by to pick up some dinner. You would expect a place like this to be dead at that time, but not Shawarma Palace. It was packed. There were whole families seated at the many tables enjoying platters of great looking Lebanese food. And there was a line-up for the counter. The world of mouth must be catching on.
We brought the food back to my girlfriend’s place and sit down to enjoy.
The meat was awesome. The beef was top notch, full of wonderful tastes. My girlfriend stated “this is probably the best shawarma I’ve ever had”. I had to agree with her. The chicken was also really good, though maybe not “best ever”. The garlic sauce and sesame sauce provided on the meats were just more goodness.
The rest of the platters were also excellent. We had a choice between white and brown rice. We got one of each. The white is fine if usual for a shawarma platter. But the brown was different. It had more flavour and it stood up better to the other strong flavours. More places should offer rice like that. The potatoes were excellent. The salad had a wonderful citron vinaigrette. The hummus might have been a bit blander than I would have preferred, but was thoughtfully topped with some paprika and olive oil. The pickles were fine too. We got some rolled grape-leaves too. They were as good as you can get. Even besides the meat, the platter was delicious.
It’s true that the food is more expensive than elsewhere. And they do charge you an extra 50 cents on top of that to pay via Interac, which is annoying. And due to the line-ups, even during off-peak hours, you can’t interact with the guys behind the counter as much as elsewhere. And it is on a strip of Rideau Street that you would never otherwise go.
But other than that, this is as good as shawarma gets. It lives up to the hype easily. You actually come away feeling that the hype, hadn’t done it justice. Anyone looking to try good Lebanese food in Ottawa need go no further than Shawarma Palace.
August 20th, 2006
Shawarma: 5/5
Mesa: 5/5
Experience: 3/5
Sometimes hype is a big burden. Sometimes a thing gets so hyped that it can’t possibly live up to its own reputation.
“Tell me something, my friend. You ever dance with the devil by the pale moonlight?”
I remember seeing Batman in 1989. It was probably the most hyped movie ever. I waited months for the line-ups to die down. Then I finally got my chance. I took my seat and was thoroughly disappointed. It wasn’t a bad film, but with all that hype I was expecting a life changing, mind blowing experience. It was a fine 3-star film. That’s it. Now finish your popcorn and go home.
The batmobile lost a wheel and Robin laid an egg.
The word on the street for some time has been “have you tried Shawarma Palace on Rideau?” (for a look at some reviews go here). It even started showing up in local “best of” rankings. It seemed that if you wanted to try a good shawarma in Ottawa, this was the place to go. But could it live up to all the hype?
On a rainy Sunday August evening my girlfriend and I stopped by to pick up some dinner. You would expect a place like this to be dead at that time, but not Shawarma Palace. It was packed. There were whole families seated at the many tables enjoying platters of great looking Lebanese food. And there was a line-up for the counter. The world of mouth must be catching on.
We brought the food back to my girlfriend’s place and sit down to enjoy.
The meat was awesome. The beef was top notch, full of wonderful tastes. My girlfriend stated “this is probably the best shawarma I’ve ever had”. I had to agree with her. The chicken was also really good, though maybe not “best ever”. The garlic sauce and sesame sauce provided on the meats were just more goodness.
The rest of the platters were also excellent. We had a choice between white and brown rice. We got one of each. The white is fine if usual for a shawarma platter. But the brown was different. It had more flavour and it stood up better to the other strong flavours. More places should offer rice like that. The potatoes were excellent. The salad had a wonderful citron vinaigrette. The hummus might have been a bit blander than I would have preferred, but was thoughtfully topped with some paprika and olive oil. The pickles were fine too. We got some rolled grape-leaves too. They were as good as you can get. Even besides the meat, the platter was delicious.
It’s true that the food is more expensive than elsewhere. And they do charge you an extra 50 cents on top of that to pay via Interac, which is annoying. And due to the line-ups, even during off-peak hours, you can’t interact with the guys behind the counter as much as elsewhere. And it is on a strip of Rideau Street that you would never otherwise go.
But other than that, this is as good as shawarma gets. It lives up to the hype easily. You actually come away feeling that the hype, hadn’t done it justice. Anyone looking to try good Lebanese food in Ottawa need go no further than Shawarma Palace.
# posted by Ottawa shawarma @ 5:02 PM 
