Thursday, May 16, 2013

Foodies' Delight, the Shawarma!

This is post dedicated to my single most favorite dish in the world, the Shawarma!
Pic courtesy: spicytasty.com

The Approach
You go to the restaurant (Zaitoon in this case). Before joining the queue, you go to the BBQ counter. Your eyes anxiously scan the section for the tower, chicken stacked to look like a pillar. You see the chef moving towards it, with two scale-like knives in his hand. He looks at you and sees the eagerness in your eyes and gives you that taunting grin. Begins grating the chicken.

Suddenly you realize, Uh oh! You haven't placed the order yet! You scurry to the counter, but alas the queue is long! Once again, your eyes are scanning the line, desperately looking for some soul that you might know. Sometimes you get lucky, and the wait is "short".

The Wait
And sometimes, it's a long arduous, torture. Every now and then your eyes keep turning towards that tower in that shop. Yes! It isn't over yet! And yes, there is a lot of salad lying there below the tower on the plate. You calm yourself, you reassure yourself that it won't be over by the time you reach the billing counter. But you see the line and get nervous again. This goes on and on, in a loop, till you finally make your payment.

You rush with the bill to the counter, and call the chef, "Sir, 3 Shawarmas! Did you get the bill? Here it is! Please, haste!" The guy replies in the most casual of all tones, "It will take time. 10 min. You wait somewhere."

But you refuse to admit it to yourself that it'll take that long. Finally, after almost as long as he said, you get a plate, beautifully stacked with three mouth-watering shawarmas.

You don't really bother about finding a place. You grab one immediately, tear the cover off. You unwrap it just like some Kaurav prince pulling the sari off Draupadi. But in all that impatience, you feel it's unending, and simply pull it off.

The Bite
The next moment, you take a huge bite off the roll. Delicious, yummy, ummm, you look up, close your eyes and savor the divine concoction in your mouth. Every chew, the paste, the pieces of meat, the garnishing. Wah! Before you take the second bite, you cannot help but thank the Arabian nomads, who probably invented it. And then you dive in again.

The End
One by one, you finish them all. You wipe the plate clean. Finish off all the seasoning, the marinated beetroot, the Chilly pickle. Your plate might never have been cleaner, except for the wrappers. You'd eat them too, had they been edible. Your stomach is full, but your mind still craves for more. But then control strikes in, and you tell yourself, next time.

And then, the whole experience repeats, the next time you go again, to get a bite of the divine delicacy.