Location: 21 Davisville Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://flamingstove.com/
Flaming Stove is one of those places that seems to perennially come up in conversations about the best shawarma in Toronto, and having just tried it, yeah. Yeah, that’s accurate.
I got the chicken shawarma wrap, and basically everything about it was spot-on. The house-made saj bread they wrap it in is nice and fresh, with just the right amount of substance and chewiness to hold up to the very generously-stuffed wrap. And it’s nicely toasted on its exterior — a must.
The wrap features a healthy amount of meat that’s well-balanced by the various pickles/veggies; I know it looks overstuffed, but the chicken remains the star.
My only real complaint is that the meat has been shaved in advance and is slightly dryer than it should be, and has lost the delightful crispiness that makes top-tier shawarma so great. But everything else here is so good that this never seems like a huge deal.
In particular, they add several sauces to the wrap — tahini, garlic, amba, and hot sauce — and it’s an absolute taste explosion. The combination of those sauces is magic; it’s tangy, garlicky, savoury, and thoroughly delicious. You could put those sauces on basically anything, and it would be amazing.
Also: this might have been the biggest shawarma wrap I’ve ever had? It comes cut in half, with each half wrapped separately, presumably because it would be too unwieldy if they tried to wrap them together. Each half is about the size and heft of a large burrito. It’s insane.
It costs 15 bucks, which seems a bit pricey until you take a look at it and realize that it can (and should!) be shared among two people.
Michael Eats 