I’m back in shawarma mode, partially fueled by a regular reader who sent me some questions and recommendations, and partially, I’ve just been missing them over the last two years. Like everyone, I’ve been missing a lot of things. This is one I can do something about.

Al Cashwi/Cawshi (??), Av. Corrientes 1845, Once. I’m not sure about the name on this one. There’s no identifying name, Google Maps lists it as simply “Shawarma”, so I asked. I couldn’t understand the response, even after the guy behind the counter repeated it a couple of times, but it seemed to be something like this name. I didn’t want to annoy him by asking him to write it down. It’s at the front of a little galeria, alongside several other fast food take-out spots. They do have two small, high tables for those who want to eat there, no seating.

The shawarma, at least if not specified, comes as a mix of beef and chicken, and is available in three sizes, plus the largest size can be a combo shawarma falafel. Very thin, wrap type bread, with an okay amount of filling. It’s a bit too measured out – the guy literally had a scale on the workbench and weighed out, individually, the lettuce, tomato, onion, and meat, actually picking out shreds of lettuce to get it to the right weight. No hot sauce, just a reasonably good yogurt sauce, and another that looked to be sort of a tahini type sauce. Overall, not a lot of flavor, the meat is simply salted, though nice and juicy, and the two sauces don’t pack much of a flavor punch. It was okay, though at just shy of 600 pesos, it seems a bit pricey for what you get.

 

Amir, San José 220, Monserrat. Another take-out only spot, and this one really is. There’s not only nowhere inside (you can’t even go in, they’ve moved the refrigerated counter up to the doorway to block it), but the sidewalk is very narrow and a lot of buses and other traffic flow by constantly. I ended up just bringing it home – the closest park or plaza is Plaza de los Dos Congresos, and I didn’t really feel like walking there to sit in the sun and eat.

Another very thin wrap type bread, though a much smaller one that barely wraps around the very generous filling, available in beef, pork, or chicken, or a combo of any two of those (all for the same price). Lots of lettuce, tomato, and onion, plenty of meat, albeit the beef was a tad gristly – I got a combo with pork, which was perfectly cooked. Three sauces available, and a “completo” comes with all of them – yogurt, cilantro, and hot sauce. The young woman in attendance warned me seriously against any more than a few dabs of the last, and when I insisted on a bit more, pleaded with me not to hold her responsible if it was too hot. It wasn’t. In fact, if I hadn’t asked for hot sauce, I wouldn’t have known there was any on the shawarma. Flavor-wise, however, really good. Just not thrilled with the gristle in the beef, would probably order either pork or chicken on a return. 500 pesos.

Al-Amir, Montañeses 2073, Belgrano. That is one huge shawarma. Not in the sense of being on an extra big flatbread and spread out, but it’s simply packed with meat. Now, that lovely rotisserie there? Not turned on. Not sure if it works, or not, or whether this was just no one wanting to deal with a flaming rotisserie on a steaming hot, 95F/35C day. Instead they were carving the meat off, raw, and then cooking it on the drip pan with a burner below. Kind of seems like it would still be pretty hot to stand in front of. And I’m not overly keen on the meat just sitting their raw, at a very warm temperature above the heated surface. Two high outdoor tables with barstools available for seating. Most people were buying to go.

While they had both beef and chicken and a mixed shawarma listed on the menu, they didn’t have chicken available, so a pure beef one it was. And it’s pretty much just pure beef. There were a few shreds of lettuce and a couple of pieces of tomato and onion in there, but that’s about it. A good amount of both a yogurt and a toum garlic-lemon sauce (so I’m guessing they’re Lebanese). The latter was really good, and about halfway down the shawarma I asked for a top off, which they were happy to do. Overall, quite good quality, and the meat, despite having been cooked on the drip pan, picked up some charred bits – probably from stuff stuck to the pan, but hey, it added flavor. I’d happily eat this one again. 450 pesos.

Jibril, Mendoza 2060, Belgrano. Cute little place, primarily takeout, but they have three small tables for two under a tent just off the curb in the street. And a hookah, which I gather is available to use on request, or maybe not, it wasn’t clear. I’m not sure in the current pandemic that many people want to shove a mouthpiece in their mouth that’s usable by anyone, and I imagine those things are not easy to clean out inside the mouthpiece and hose.

Beef or chicken shawarma, or mixed, available, though I decided to go for just the plain beef. There also might be a vegan shawarma available – I didn’t see a vegan menu, but there were various signs posted touting vegan food. Unfortunately, I just didn’t like this one very much. The meat was fine, but was just covered with so much salt it was eye-watering. And even the decent amount of lettuce, tomato, and onion, and the tangy yogurt sauce, just didn’t absorb enough of the salt to make it tasty. It’s rare that I can’t finish a shawarma, but after about a third of it, I gave up and tossed it in a nearby trash can. Cut the amount of salt and this would have been delicious, nice and charred on the meat, good bread, also lightly charred, and all the garnish. A shame. 450 pesos.

I approached this one with trepidation. To be honest, had it not been only a few blocks from home (newly opened, some time during the pandemic), I probably wouldn’t have gone. Al Zein, Sánchez de Bustamante 2014, Recoleta, is a small, primarily takeout, outpost of the original Al Zein in Las Cañitas. My experiences there were not positive, to say the least, neither the food nor service – here and here. But, as I noted in the second post, a decade on, we’d attended a birthday party held there and been impressed. Now, obviously, a private event, with food prepared specifically for that evening, might well be very different from their day to day food and service. Had the pandemic not interfered, I’d have probably gone back and tried the place again by now. And I will get there, promise!

So, on to this neighborhood outpost. Nice guy running the place, it seemed with his son and a couple of kitchen workers. Both beef and chicken shawarma available. I like that the chicken is up on a rotisserie spit – ofttimes, just the beef, or lamb, will be, and the chicken gets relegated to precut and precooked pieces that just get warmed up. This was being cooked, and nicely charred, to order. I got a mixto, a combo of beef and chicken. Thin flatbread, reasonably good amount of lettuce and tomato, didn’t notice much, if any, onion. Creamy yogurt sauce. I’d asked for hot sauce and while it was there, it was minimal – I was waiting outside, so didn’t see how much he put on. It was a quite good hot sauce, so I’d ask for more next time. And yes, a next time is in the offing, because this was excellent. High quality, tender meat, seasoned beautifully (baharat, I think), and just perfectly charred on the edges. Also the flatbread is really packed with a generous amount of it. Nice to have another spot in the ‘hood where I can get a really good shawarma! 500 pesos.