Shawarma: The Delicious Middle Eastern Street Food
Shawarma is a popular Middle Eastern street food made of thinly sliced, grilled meat that is stacked on a vertical rotisserie and then shaved off to be served in a pita bread or wrap. The meat is typically chicken. Shawarma is often seasoned with a variety of spices, including cumin, coriander, turmeric, and paprika. It is then served with various toppings, such as garlic, tahini, pickles, onions, and tomatoes.
Since Syria is one of the best or maybe the best country in the chicken shawarma game, and with a lot of Syrian immigrants in Turkey, it was expected for these people to gradually start opening shawarma places all around Turkey and especially Istanbul.
If you haven't tried the shawarma sandwich before, I'm sad to tell you that you are missing a lot. This sandwich will rock your tasting buds and make you addicted to it quickly. The sandwich is very juicy and the garlic sauce fits amazingly well with the shawarma.
It is usually served with sandwiches but you can order a meal that has a sandwich and fries with salad. You can even order by weight, that will be only the raw chicken shawarma not wrapped. But the wrap is the recommended one.
Shawarma prices are usually on the cheap end, around 2$ for the sandwich.
Here are the best shawarma places in Istanbul:
Alagar shawarma
This place is very original and did serve shawarma in Syria even before opening in Turkey, unlike the other good shawarma places, they specialize in shawarma and nothing else. They have a few branches around Istanbul and serve chicken and meat shawarma. Their prices can be a little bit more expensive than in other places.
Locations: Google Maps here
Anas chicken
The most famous shawarma place in Istanbul, they have branches in the tourist areas and serve other kinds of Western food like fried chicken. They have a branch in Eminonu and Taksim (very famous attractions) so they are very accessible to tourists and made getting a taste of the authentic shawarma very easy for everyone.
Location: Google Maps here
Bludan
This place is pretty good too and has a couple of branches around the city. Not very different than the other places above in terms of taste and prices.
Locations: Google Maps here
In general, most Syrian restaurants do sell Shawarma and they do it good and authentic. The places mentioned above are the best but that doesn't mean the others are bad.