hot sauce – Michael Eats

A Solid Wrap at Shah’s Halal Food

Published on January 26, 2023 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 65 Duncan Street, Toronto
Website: https://www.shahshalalfood.ca/

Shah’s Halal Food has a pretty straightforward menu; it’s basically just chicken, lamb, and falafel that you can either order on rice or as a wrap. Apparently it’s a chain with a whole bunch of locations in the States and the UK, and yeah, that checks out. It tastes like chain food.

Still, it’s not bad. I went with the lamb gyros, which comes absolutely crammed with lamb, veggies, black beans, chick peas, hummus, and three different sauces: white sauce, hot sauce, and green sauce.

The lamb itself is probably the weakest part of the sandwich; it comes out of a metal warming tray looking like the saddest, grayest cubes of meat that you’ve ever seen, and it has a spongey reconstituted meat flavour. It’s not great.

But the sandwich is so crammed with stuff that this is barely even an issue — I wish it were a bit spicier (it’s basically not spicy at all), but it’s zippy, crunchy, and flavourful, and the soft but substantial pita does a good job of holding it all together.

Decent Shawarma at Oaza Shawarma Plus

Published on September 30, 2022 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 2645 Liruma Road, Mississauga
Website: https://www.facebook.com/oazashawarmaplus/

Oaza Shawarma Plus is one of those local joints that doesn’t stand out in any particular way, but that’s still satisfying for what it is.

I got the chicken shawarma wrap, and it was pretty good. The chicken was entirely lacking in the crispy bits you’re hoping for from great shawarma, but aside from that it was juicy and plentiful. The sauces (hot sauce, garlic sauce, and tahini) were all tasty, and the proportion of sauce, chicken, and fresh veggies was just right.

Bonus: the wrap was nicely toasted in a sandwich press. I feel like unless you’re starting with some seriously fresh, delicious bread (and the pita here was of the bagged, store-bought variety), toasting will automatically enhance a shawarma wrap.

Do you need to get in your car and drive here immediately? No, absolutely not. But if you’re in the area, it’s a tasty enough wrap.

Tasty Greek Wraps at Oh My Gyro!

Published on November 9, 2018 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 155 John Street, Toronto
Website: http://ohmygyro.ca/

Oh My Gyro serves what’s probably one of the better gyros in the city, though it’s a pretty clear case of “too much of a good thing.”

I got the chicken gyros wrap (you can also get beef doner, chicken souvlaki, or falafel), which comes crammed with chicken, tomato, tzatziki, garlic sauce, and hot sauce (and onions, which I elected to skip).

Seriously: it’s a hefty wrap. The photo makes it look pretty normal, but it was filled with a dense reserve of chicken, probably about the size of my forearm. It must have weighed about a pound.

It’s good quality stuff — the chicken is super tender, with a good amount of crispy bits (I probably could have used more, but then you can never have enough crispy bits). This might have been my imagination, but it had a slightly lamby flavour, like they had mixed lamb fat in with the chicken. Whatever it was, it was good stuff.

But there was a little bit too much of it. It made the wrap ridiculously difficult to eat without making a huge mess, and the balance of flavours was a bit off. The wrap only cost about eight bucks, and would have still been a great deal with about half the amount of meat.

That’s a fairly minor complaint, though. Everything about this wrap worked really well — the herby flavour, the delicious garlicky sauces, the zippy hot sauce (I went with extra hot, and it wasn’t kidding around), the fresh tomatoes, and the soft and chewy pita bread. Even the fries worked really well — I’m normally not a huge fan of fries in a sandwich, but these were fresh and tasty, and complimented the wrap’s other flavours perfectly.