Shawarma Review: Shawarma's King, 395 Bank Street, Ottawa ON

I took advantage of last night's rock show in Centretown to stop by Shawarma's King, winner of "Best Shawarma" in this year's Ottawa XPress "Best of 2006" awards.

Things got off to a promising start with my chicken extra garlic as I was able to pop the top off the wrapping with minimal difficulty (I love that). The size was perfect as well, as the King isn't chintzy with his product, but not overly ridiculous, either, so as I bit into the slighty crispy pita, I expected things to just get better and better as things went along (as that's what separates the wheat from the chaff in these matters).

Sadly, however, it was not to be.

The metallic taste of sanitizer soon dominated the whole culinary experience. It was as though the knife with which the guy behind the counter cut the chicken was doused in that Jergens stuff (or whatever it was) that everyone was carrying around in Toronto post-SARS. I still continued because the turnip and garlic provided formidable competition for the foreign element, but I have to say that this was certainly not an experience deserving of the title of "Best in Ottawa".

Maybe next time.

Overall rating: 6/10