Shawarma in the UK: what it is, how to order it, where to find it
Shawarma is marinated meat stacked on a vertical spit, roasted and shaved thin, wrapped in flatbread with tahini or garlic sauce, pickles and salad. The Levantine cousin of the doner and the gyro, it is the great Middle Eastern street food. Lebanese shawarma is typically chicken with toum (garlic sauce) or lamb with tarator (tahini).
What shawarma is
Thin slices of marinated chicken or lamb are stacked on a vertical spit with fat between the layers and roasted as it turns, the outside shaved off as it crisps. Chicken shawarma is marinated with garlic, lemon, yoghurt and spices and served with toum, the fierce whipped garlic sauce; lamb or beef shawarma is spiced with cumin, cinnamon and allspice and served with tarator, a tahini-lemon sauce. It is wrapped in thin flatbread with pickled turnip (the pink pickle), cucumber pickles, tomato and sometimes chips, and rolled tight. It shares an ancestor with the Turkish doner and the Greek gyro.
How to judge it
The meat should come off the spit crisp-edged and juicy, not dry or greasy, the marinade evident, and the sauce and pickles generous and sharp. Chicken should be thigh; the garlic toum should be fierce and fluffy. A dry, bland wrap with mean sauce is the low end. A shop with a real turning spit and a queue is the sign. The pink pickled turnip is a small but telling detail.
Shawarma versus doner versus gyro
All three are spit-roasted shaved meat in bread, spread by the Ottoman world. Shawarma is the Levantine version, distinguished by its spicing (cumin, allspice, cinnamon) and its sauces (toum for chicken, tarator for lamb) and pickles. Doner is Turkish, gyro Greek. The differences are the marinade and the accompaniments.
Where it is done well in the UK
Lebanese and Levantine grills and shawarma shops. The list below shows areas with the most Lebanese restaurants.
How to order it
Order chicken shawarma with toum (garlic sauce) or lamb with tarator (tahini). The meat should be crisp-edged and juicy, the pickles and sauce generous. A shop with a real turning spit is the sign. Ask for the pink pickled turnip.
Where it's done well
UK councils with the most shawarma specialists, by restaurant name, in our directory.
Restaurants near you
Search by postcode or use your location to find restaurants likely to serve shawarma near you.
Make it at home
Serves 4 · 45 min
Ingredients
- 600 g chicken thigh, sliced
- for the marinade: 3 tbsp yoghurt, 3 garlic cloves, juice of 1 lemon, 1 tsp each cumin, paprika, allspice, cinnamon, salt
- flatbread, pickled turnip, cucumber pickles, tomato
- toum (garlic sauce) or tahini sauce
Method
- 01Marinate the chicken in the yoghurt, garlic, lemon and spices for a few hours.
- 02Stack tightly on skewers and roast, or spread on a tray and roast hot, then finish under the grill to crisp the edges.
- 03Shave or slice thin.
- 04Warm the bread, spread with toum or tahini, add the chicken, pickles and tomato, and roll tight.
The marinade and a good char are the dish; thigh, not breast, stays juicy. Toum (whipped garlic) is the classic chicken sauce.