Shiraz Bakery - Shawarma

You may have noted from earlier posts that I am a huge fan of Shawarma. Traditional spit roasted Shawarma places have been lacking in the Durham Region until recently. Luckily, a few have popped up over the last couple of years and today I stopped in to try the newest entrant on the scene.

Shiraz Bakery is located at 785 Taunton Rd (at Harmony) in Oshawa and has only recently opened. They sell a variety of hot dinners and grocery items but I was after their version of chicken shawarma (2 for $7.50) this afternoon. Shawarma has regional differences depending on the ethnicity of the cook preparing it. To me, the most conventional are Lebanese or Turkish shawarmas, flavoured with nutmeg, cinnamon, cardamom, allspice, black pepper and salt. Recently I've been seeing more and more shawarmas that have been flavoured with curry (I'm assuming as it's spread along the Persian Gulf to Afghanistan and Pakistan).

Shiaz Bakery's version falls into the latter category, the flavour of the chicken is dominantly curry, right down to the bright yellow appearance of the meat. The chicken is very mildly flavoured and tender, there could have been more of it however. I added tahini and garlic sauce and they were very mild as well. Some places take the garlic sauce over the top, here it was not overly pungent, the tahini sauce was even more dominant. The toppings were fresh green lettuce, red onion, pickle and hot pepper. Each topping was applied individually, most places I've been have had a salad of onion, parsley, lettuce, tomato, and occasianally sumac to apply as one condiment. Either is good for me.

Overall it was a solid shawarma, but, is not really in the same league as those found on the Lawrence strip in Scarborough. In a pinch it'll satisfy, but, didn't blow me away.




Edit as of May 12, 2012: Sadly Shiraz has closed at it's current location. I am not sure if it relocated but as of earlier this week, the location noted in my review was up for lease.