Shawarma? In the Philippines?!

Growing up in Riyadh - all residents, especially expats have their love for shawarma deeply engraved in their deepest hearts of hearts. No food will be able to fill the void where their hearts used to be if you take shawarma away from them.

Every citizen and expats alike are self-proclaimed shawarma connoisseurs and repudiating this claim will result in grievous conflicts. (I swear)

While my brother and I were travelling around Philippines, a little stall infront of Victory Mall caught my eye. 

"Shawarma? In the Philippines?!", I exclaimed
"...Yep", my brother replied unenthusiastically almost as if he knew I wanted to buy it. Almost as if he wanted me not to eat it.

Ignoring the effortless protest of his voice, I convinced him to get it for me and so he did! 

Psh, I didn't even have to try that hard.

The Shawarma Shack

Price: Buy 1 + Get 1 Free = 60 PHP (roughly 38 THB)

My verdict? 

First of all, the taste is no where near like the ones in Saudi. I'm not against that at all because I believe that ingredients and flavour may have been altered to save on cost or cater to the Filipino tongues. 

There were no french fries and garlic sauce. The pickle that binds it all together was absent. I was chewing on something and there's food in my mouth but it feels like emptiness. 

This shawarma (if that's what they call it) has ground meat of your choice between beef and chicken. We got the beef. Ground meat is okay, I suppose but the meat isn't your usual slices where you can bite and feel chunks of it in your mouth which seems to be the common kind you find in Saudi. So having ground meat was a totally new texture for me. It also has shredded lettuce, cucumbers, diced tomatoes, mysterious sauce that looks like watered down fry sauce (mayo + ketchup) and cheese sauce. The cheese sauce was very watery too!! You can see it in the picture above.

Also, its conical shape caught me off guard. Shawarmas are usually cylindrical. Think of it as a cannoli except it's a pita bread. I'm not sure if it's relevant but its shape definitely changed my eating experience and expectations. 

The Shawarma Shack

"THE FIRST AND THE ORIGINAL BUY 1 TAKE 1 SHAWARMA IN THE PHILIPPINES"

Overall, it wasn't that bad.

I had some expectations and I kind of knew what the outcome would be but I had a little glistening hope.

My feelings towards is is kinda ehhhhh.

I guess I was disappointed but it really isn't all that bad. It could be worse (thankfully not) 

I got a snack that filled my hunger. Food is food, so yeah.

Filipino expats with entrepreneurial minds came up with an idea and decided to make a profit out of their love for this delicious snack and to fulfill the longingness of other expats who miss Middle East/Mediterranean cuisine. 

Really smart and kind of sympathetic from them. 

I admire the motive but execution-wise, not so much.