I found Almanara Shawarma and Restaurant pretty randomly. I made a note that I’d try it out one day. Turns out that was the day. After going around and getting some gas, we decided to stop off and get our dinners. Going in, the store was completely empty with no one to be found. It was about 5:30PM. We walked closer to the register, and then someone came out from a back room. It was very quiet. There was a single stick with chicken on it, not on, or rotating, and with most of the meat already gone. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing. On one hand it’s not sitting there over-cooking for no reason, on the other hand, how long has it been there?

The guy came out and wasn’t very friendly. I asked if they had shawarma plates, and he just pointed up at the picture menu. We ordered two of the chicken shawarmas for $8.95 each. He turned on the rotating-heating thing to cook the chicken, and then proceeded to fill up our styrofoam containers with the rest of the things that go into a platter. Didn’t really know what because everything wasn’t visible from the front of the counter, and he also went to the back to put other stuff in. So after about 10 minutes, he cut a good amount of chicken off the skewer and placed it in a container. Then finished packing our food.

I didn’t see what was in it until I got home. I got some stuff that I was familiar with, and others that I’ve never seen before. So I got the standard – rice, chicken, hummous, and some tabouleh. For the different stuff, there were some pickled veggies (one bright purple), and a yogurty sauce beside the hummus.

The chicken was really moist and juicy still so I guess it’s a good thing it was still sitting on the skewer and heated to order. I hate it when the chicken sits in the container heating and it gets really dry. This was perfectly moist chicken with great flavours. On top of the chicken was a bit of the white sauce to add some garlicky flavour. I would’ve preferred some of the spicy red sauce too, but he didn’t ask, or even say anything except how much it cost. The rice that we had is probably the best rice I’ve had in a shawarma plate because it was kind of creamy and had some onions and herbs mixed in. Good texture and good flavour. The tabouleh was still pretty fresh and had a nice acidity to it.

As for the new stuff, the purple vegetable had a nice crunch but was way too salty. The other one was just a sliced pickle I think. The yogurty/white thing was kind of gross too as it had pretty much no flavour, and looked like something you aren’t supposed to eat.

The plate was pretty good, though at $9 the portion wasn’t that big. There was only a little bit of tabouleh and hummous. Some other places pile it high. They also didn’t give any pita. And he wasn’t the friendliest of people. I also found out last week that Donair Affair has Shawarma plates too and are on special for I think $6 on Tuesdays, so I’ll have to check the out next week. They’re already my favourite place to go for Donairs, so my hopes are high.

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

Almanara Shawarma and Restaurant
13634 104th Ave
Surrey, BC

(604) 585-1221

I found another donair joint in Surrey after looking around at Evergreen Mall. If I’m around that area, I’d go just to go to Shoppers, or maybe buy some vegetables at Joe’s Market or some liquor at BC Liquor. I haven’t really walked inside the main mall area for maybe a decade. I finally did last week, and noticed a shawarma place. I went back this weekend and decided to try it with some pretty low expectations, but still hoping for a decent local place.

My friend and I each ordered a Chicken Shawarma Plate, slightly pricey at about $10 after tax. It came with rice, chicken, and tabbouleh in the platter, with some tzatziki and hot sauce on top. A pita was given, along with a Greek style lettuce salad. For $10, it was not that much food, as it was served in a half styrofoam container, and it didn’t come with any hummus! First of all, the chicken wasn’t very fresh. When we arrived there, there was only a single lamb skewer. I think our chicken and rice were prepared in the back, so we didn’t really see the freshness of our food. Sadly the chicken was way too tough, meaning it’s probably been sitting there for a long time, and perhaps reheated. I don’t think there was a single fresh piece of chicken, everything was very dry and tough. The flavours were decent in the platter, coming from the rice and tzatziki mostly, but the hot sauce really did overwhelm the plate. I guess I shouldn’t have asked for it or not as much, but it was definitely a lot spicier than the other hot sauces I’ve had with my shawarma plates and donairs. The tabbouleh didn’t really offer much flavour either. I think it was way under dressed.

The salad was lettuce, red onion, cucumbers, tomatoes, and black olives with a light vinaigrette. It tasted pretty fresh and was very crispy. With my pita I added some of my shawarma plate and added some of the salad to make my own donair. It helped tone down the spiciness.

They serve some other food and also some Pakistani dishes there, and have donair specials for about $5. Maybe it’s better when they have fresher meat, but what I had on this trip was really bad. I may give it another shot if I see some meat actually rotating and cooking, but if not, I think I’ll stay away. I’d definitely stay away from the shawarma plates though, it’s too pricey for the amount, and the quality. I may get a donair or some Pakistani fare which I’ve never tried if I want to give them another shot. The owner was really nice though.

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

Sofi’s Shawarma & Donairs
8928 152 Street
Surrey, BC

(604) 957-2344

I’ve been looking for a Middle Eastern restaurant in Surrey to get my Shawarma plate fix for the past while, and have been unable to do so. I love Falafel Maison’s plates, but that’s all the way downtown on Robson. Donair Affair is a good one in Surrey, but no plates. I tried finding this place before, but I guess I wrote down the wrong address, and I was able to find it this time. It’s actually pretty hidden though. It’s near 160th and Fraser Hwy, hidden behind a Wired Monk.

Best Donair? Not, not really. They did have a lot of different choices, and a bunch that weren’t really “authentic” but that’s OK, because I like spins on classics sometimes. I saw the “Spartan” which was a donair with bacon and cheddar cheese, which I may go back to try. It was the special of the day, but I really wanted a plate. So, we order the Lebanese Plate, and the Turkish Plate. The prices were surprisingly more than downtown, as the plates were $9.49. I think I paid about $8 something at Falafel Maison.

The Lebanese Plate was your standard shawarma plate. You had you choice of meat, and for this one we picked chicken. It came with hummus and tabouli, rice, and some pita. We chose lamb for the Turkish plate, and the only difference is that it came with dolme instead of tabouli. You could also add tzatsiki, a creamy garlic sauce, a bit of hot sauce, and even hotter sauce. Don’t worry, the hotter sauce isn’t too spicy. I recommend putting all the sauces to get the most flavour.

From what I remember, the chicken wasn’t very tender, and some pieces were a bit over cooked. At the time we arrived there, there wasn’t any meat on the rotating skewers, but they were just on the side being kept warm in heating trays. Who knows for how long. The lamb on the otherhand was a bit more tender. But this isn’t just any old lamb, its the type that gets shaved off the skewers. Not whole chunks of lamb. I must say the sauce really makes this taste a whole lot better. The rice was OK. A bit under cook than would I would like. At least the rice wasn’t plain white rice, and had some flavouring to it. The hummus was a bit bland. It need some extra spices, or flavouring in there, perhaps garlic. In my opinion the tabouli was also under dressed. It didn’t have enough acidity. For the Turkish plate, the dolme were a bit slimey, which wasn’t very appetizing. The rice and meat mixture inside though was decent. I would go back to try their donairs, and would go back for the shawarma plate, only if I really really wanted it. Falafel Maison still has my favourite shawarma plates.

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

Best Donair
15930 Fraser Hwy
Surrey, BC

(604) 865-6696

In my hunt to find a Middle Eastern place close by with a Shawarma plate, I accidentally went to the wrong place and wound up at A1 Coffee and Donuts. Note to self, check what the place is called, and the address. It turns out the place I wanted to go to was just 2-3 stores down in the same complex. Sigh.

Anyways, I got in, and it was a Coffee and Donut shop. I saw that they sold donairs on their sign too, so I thought I would try it out, or thought it was the place that I actually wanted to go to. I got in, and it was just a coffee shop. They were playing some hockey on TV, and they sold donuts, meat pies, and some other random stuff. Their board said they had a chicken donair so that’s what I went for. Donair plus a can of pop for only $5. Pretty good deal I guess.

Then it gets weird. He got a piece of bread, and cut it in half, then put it in a panini grill type thing. As he was doing that, he asked me how I want it the donair. Did I want onions? Cucumbers? Tomatoes? Tzatziki? Spicy? I replied yes to everything. He had a couple rotating meat sticks in the back, but he had some chicken precut up and kept warm. He loaded up my donair and off I went. He was a really nice guy. But what the hell did I just order? It was a chicken donair sandwich.

It was like a hamburger bun cut in half almost halfway. Then grilled, with nothing in it to I guess make it crunchy. Unfortunately, I went to Dairy Queen on the way home which took a long time because of the Blizzard deal, so the bread wasn’t very crunchy by the time I got to it. The ingredients itself weren’t all to good either though. Kind of just there, and all mixed in. The sauce was a bit spicy but not overly. Their wasn’t much taste to anything besides the spice. The chicken was well, just chicken. It didn’t have a very middle eastern meat flavour that I was craving for so long. If you look at it, it’s actually kind of disgusting looking.

I doubt they are really a donair shop. It kind of just seemed like something to have because he was Middle Eastern. I wouldn’t come back for a donair. I never tried their other food, so they may be good. If you want a donair and are in this area, I’d definitely try the other one called Kabab Al-Rafidain, or for a sure bet go diagonally across the street to Donair Affair.

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

A1 Coffee & Donuts
14795 108th Ave
Surrey, BC

(604) 581-4151

As a side note:  A brown friend told me that places use A1 in their name just so they can be first in the Yellow Page directories.

I went to Donair Affair on pure curiosity. I’ve never heard of this place until the night I went to Pho Tau Bay for dinner.

Their menu is pretty big, they have a good selection of beef, lamb, and chicken donairs. Each type of meat has another 4 or 5 selections of flavors. I decided to try the Regular Chicken donair (under $6.00 dollars).

These donairs are GIANT! I didn’t realize how giant it was until I unwrapped it. And thankfully, the quality matched the quantity. The chicken donair was tasty. The meat was moist, and has crispy ends (from the BBQ I guess). I really liked it.

One thing I noticed was that the donair seemed to got giant-er as I ate. I swear, half way through eating it, the size in width seemed to have doubled (see the pictures below). And it also got messier and messier to eat because it was so big. And it continued got messier until I gave in, and put it on a plate and ate it with a fork.

I did manage to finish 2/3 of the donair, which was to my surprise. I thought I was going to finish half, because I did went to Pho Tau Bay and had a bowl of pho right before I came here (yes, this was my second dinner). The only thing I would change is probably ask the guy to be easy on the sauces, because the chicken itself was already moist enough.

Good donairs, come visit this place when you’re really hungry, you’ll get your moneys worth.

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

Donair Affair
10786 148th Street
Surrey, BC V3R3X6
Tel: (604) 584-3838