Decent Wraps at Shawarma Kingdom

Shawarma Kingdom
Location
: 377 Burnhamthorpe Road East, Mississauga
Website: https://www.shawarmakingdom.ca/

Shawarma Kingdom is totally fine.  It’s fine!  It’s shawarma.  It’s good.  You don’t need to go out of your way for it, but it’s acceptably tasty.

I mostly wanted to check this place out because they have beef and lamb on the menu.  I’m of the opinion that lamb shawarma is the best shawarma — and yet it’s almost impossible to find in the GTA.  When you do see it, it’s mixed with beef like it is here (and in most cases, the mix leans much more towards beef than lamb).  It’s a shame.

Shawarma Kingdom

You can get the wrap either in a pita or saj (for a few bucks more).  I went with saj and stuck with the default toppings, which are tahini sauce, tomato, onion, parsley and pickles (okay fine, I lied — I skipped the onion, as I tend to do).

Shawarma Kingdom

They definitely don’t skimp on the meat; the wrap is absolutely crammed.  They don’t skimp on the sauce, either, making this a bit of a mess.  The saj was over-toasted, which meant that the wrap was very brittle, with its structural integrity being extremely questionable; it basically exploded, and I had to eat most of it with a fork and knife.

Shawarma Kingdom

It’s a satisfying enough wrap, with the meat being fairly tender and flavourful, and with the generous amount of parsley giving it an interesting herby kick.  I wish the tahini sauce were a bit zippier, and I wish the meat had more of the crispy bits you’re looking from shawarma, but it’s a solid wrap (figuratively, not literally — again, it fell apart basically instantly).

Tasty Mexican Food at Pa’l Antojo

Pa'l Antojo
Location
: 1885 Drew Road, Mississauga
Website: https://www.instagram.com/palantoj0/

Pa’l Antojo is in the middle of an industrial wasteland near the airport, so it definitely qualifies as a hidden gem.  I was mostly in the area to pick up nuts from Master Delight, which I think sells the best nuts in the city.  But it’s worth the trek to check out Pa’l Antojo either way; the food is stellar.

Pa'l Antojo

I tried a couple of things.  I’d heard the quesabirrias (“stewed beef seasoned on a crunchy corn tortilla with cheese, cilantro, onion and beef broth”) are the thing to order here, so that was a must.

Pa'l Antojo

It’s very, very good, with a great contrast between the slightly crispy tortilla, the gooey cheese, and the tender beef.  Once you dip it into the very flavourful broth, you’re off to the races.  I could eat a million of these.

Pa'l Antojo

I also tried a pastor taco, and it was just as good, with the very generous amount of pork being crispy and abundantly tasty, and with the double layer of fresh corn tortillas complementing it perfectly.

Double Cheesy Melt from McDonald’s

Double Cheesy Melt from McDonald's
Location
30 Courtneypark Drive East, Mississauga
Websitehttps://www.mcdonalds.com/ca/en-ca.html

I don’t think it’s possible to have too much cheese on a fast food cheeseburger.  Generally speaking, I want the beef to be the star of a hamburger, even a cheeseburger, but a fast food burger with fast-food-quality beef patties?  Sure, pile on the cheese.  The more the better.

Double Cheesy Melt from McDonald's

And McDonald’s definitely piles on the cheese with this one.  Here’s how they describe it: “Two juicy 100% Canadian beef patties with a delicious cheesy sauce,  two processed cheese slices, grilled onions, crispy onions and pickles on a warm toasted sesame seed split bun.”

I think the fact that they’re using smaller patties rather than the Quarter Pounder patties that you might expect really helps to tip the cheese-to-beef balance in favour of the cheese.  The cheese isn’t kidding around here, that’s for sure.

Double Cheesy Melt from McDonald's

I liked it.  The cheese sauce tastes exactly how you want it to taste: extremely processed, but in a satisfying way.  The grilled onions are a nice touch, and make the burger feel a bit more deluxe than your typical McDonald’s fare.  And the crispy onions, as always, are tasty and add some nice texture.

I will say that I wish there were more pickles in the burger, or some sauce other than the cheese.  The pickles do a great job of rounding things out by cutting through the richness of the cheese, but they’re not in every mouthful; the pickle-free bites feel like they’re missing something.

Quick Bites: Louf, Luca Pizza, Sidra BBQ & Grill

Hummus bil lahma from Louf
Hummus bil lahma from Louf

Louf is a Palestinian restaurant near Casa Loma (it’s probably the closest I’ve been to Casa Loma since I was a kid).  I went at brunch and tried a few things, though the only dish that really jumped out at me was the hummus bil lahma (“chickpeas, tahina, lemon, ghee, beef, spices, pine nuts”).  It’s a solid bowl of hummus, with a satisfyingly zippy, cumin-tinged flavour.  And the braised beef on top is perfectly tender.  It’s a great combo.

Cheese pizza from Luca Pizza
Cheese pizza from Luca Pizza

Luca Pizza frequently comes up in discussions of the best pizza in Mississauga, and I guess I kind of get it.  The place opened in 1975, and it looks like not much has changed in there in the intervening decades; it’s definitely got a bunch of old-school charm.  And the pizza kind of reminds me of what a place like Pizza Pizza would be serving, if Pizza Pizza weren’t terrible.  It’s cheap, cheesy, and filling.  I also liked that the crust had a nice exterior crispiness.  But I have to imagine that the people calling this the best pizza in the city are coming with a big dose of nostalgia — without that, it’s hard to fully overlook the canned-tasting sauce or the bland crust (it’s the kind of crust that makes you realize why dipping sauce with pizza became a thing).  Still, while I’m not going to rush back, it was pretty satisfying for what it was.

Lamb shawarma wrap from Sidra BBQ & Grill
Lamb shawarma wrap from Sidra BBQ & Grill

Mostly, I wanted to try Sidra — a shawarma joint in Oakville — thanks to the presence of lamb among their shawarma selections.  My understanding is that lamb shawarma is actually quite common in the Middle East, but it’s weirdly rare in the GTA (and if you do find it, it’ll likely be mixed with beef).  Sadly, I don’t think the lamb shawarma here was cooked on a vertical spit, which does kind of defeat the point (there were zero crispy bits), and the seasoning was probably a bit too aggressively applied.  Still, it was a bunch of tasty, relatively tender lamb in a wrap, so yeah, I enjoyed it.  Probably not worth going out of your way for, but if you’re in Oakville already, sure, why not?

Tasty Filipino Food at Bella’s Inasal

Bella's Inasal
Location
: 848 Burnhamthorpe Road West, Mississauga
Website: https://www.bellaslechon.ca/

I don’t go to Filipino restaurants all that often, but whenever I do, I’m like, why is this not a regular thing in my life?  Bella’s Inasal definitely gave me those thoughts.

Bella's Inasal

They have a pretty huge menu, but considering they serve a dish called “chicken inasal,” I figured that was probably the thing to order.

Bella's Inasal

The first thing that comes is a small bowl of a garlicky shrimp soup, and wow this was good — it’s got a really great shrimpy flavour, and the toasted garlic complements it perfectly.

Bella's Inasal

As for the chicken inasal, it consists of a perfectly grilled piece of chicken, a generous amount of garlic rice, and a small dish of a zippy papaya slaw called atsara.  It’s very, very good; the chicken is super flavourful and perfectly cooked, with a good amount of char from the grill.  The rice is nice and garlicky, and the atsara helps cut through the richness.  It’s a great dish.

Bella's Inasal

I also tried the pork sisig (“Crispy Pork with Onion, Chili and Calamansi”), which I think I might have liked even better than the chicken?  It comes on a sizzling hot plate, and it is absolutely crammed with porky flavour and crispy bits from the hot plate.  It’s enormously satisfying.