What’s your Shawarma Personality?

photo: Abou Shawarma

photo: Abou Shawarma

Whether you’re into gourmet or street style, a real dining experience or something low-key, there’s a shawarma place for you in Beirut. Shawarma is a traditional Middle Eastern food that’s a savory, satisfactory, and a staple meal in Beirut, available at generation-after-generation legends and brand-new, hip hangouts. What are our favorite places in the city when we’re starving for a meaty bite? Check out the BeirutNightLife picks, whatever your personality.

Boubouffe

Who said shawarma has to be a street food? If it’s gourmet shawarma you crave, Boubouf is the place for you. A veteran in the business, the restaurant used to operate out of small venue on a tiny backstreet in Ashrafieh. Today it boasts a full menu of Arabic food and a beautiful diner-style location on Charles Malek Avenue in the middle of Ashrafieh. It’s as close to fine dining as shawarma can be.

Location: Charles Malek Avenue, Ashrafieh

Check them out on Facebook here.

Abou Shawarma

This new kid on the block just opened a few months ago and is fast becoming a popular destination for foodies on the go. They deliver and have a modern little hangout in the center of the city’s busy Sassine square. For those who want to stray away from a traditional meat or chicken sandwich, the restaurant also does delicious sojok and fish varieties.

Location: Sassine square, Ashrafieh

Check them out on Facebook here.

Shawarma Al-Mahatta “Station” 

They say it’s the best shawarma in Beirut, a traditional joint in the busy, long-established Mazraa neighborhood. There is no twist and it’s still one of the most popular destinations for the street food. Their classic shawarma stands out from the rest in that it’s made with crispy thin “markouk” bread. It’s the perfect quick and yummy bite, and they’ve also got branches in Khalde, the Bekaa, Saida  Mar Elias, and South Lebanon.

Shawarmanji

If you’re into variety, Shawarmanji has a huge selection of different ways to have your sandwich, including in a specialty brown bread and with several additions. With mushrooming branches all over the city and even expanding to the UAE, the chain is getting more and more popular all around.

Location: Ashrafieh, Hamra, Kaslik, Zalka, Badaro, Sin El Fil, Verdun, Elissar, Le Mall Dbayeh, and the UAE.

Check them out on Facebook here.

BarBar

What list of shawarma places in Beirut would be complete without the legendary BarBar? The Lebanese fast food giant is the place to try for shawarma, as well as other local sandwiches, foods, and juices. It’s open all night so it makes a great post-party food and it’s always full day in, day out, year in, year out.

Location: Hamra, Beirut

Check them out on Facebook here.