the one that makes it
toum
the levantine garlic sauce you didn't know you needed — raw garlic whipped with oil into a fluffy, punchy cloud.
the story
where it comes from
shawarma is theatre: a tower of marinated meat turning against a flame, shaved thin to order. the flavour is in the char on the outside edge.
we chase that same char on paneer — grilled hard until the edges go dark — and let toum and pickles do the rest, exactly like the cart does.
the 97 / 3
what we changed
no meat, no spit — but the same charred edges and the same toum. we grill paneer to the exact dark you'd want off the shaver.
97% familiar · 3% you've never had
lil nuggets
things to say at dinner
'shawarma' comes from the Turkish 'çevirme' — 'turning' — the same idea as the Greek gyro and Mexican al pastor.
toum is emulsified like mayonnaise but with zero egg — just garlic, oil, lemon and salt whipped until it holds.
al pastor exists because Lebanese migrants brought the shawarma spit to Mexico in the early 1900s.
make it at home
a home version
2 pockets · 20 min
ingredients
- ·150g paneer, sliced
- ·1 tsp shawarma spice (cumin, coriander, paprika, cinnamon)
- ·for toum: 4 garlic cloves, ¾ cup neutral oil, lemon, salt
- ·pickled cabbage
- ·warm pita
method
- 1rub paneer with shawarma spice; grill hard until the edges char.
- 2for toum: pound garlic + salt to a paste, then drip in oil very slowly with lemon, whisking, until fluffy.
- 3load pita with paneer, a big smear of toum, pickled cabbage and chili.
the secret we keep
the oil goes into the toum a drop at a time — rush it and it splits. that patience is the difference between garlic sauce and garlic soup.
what's in it
every dish is veg · swap paneer for chicken, same price · air-fried falafel on request
allergens
our kitchen isn't allergen-free — tell us what you can't have and we'll tell you exactly what's in it.
pairs well: a batata harra on the side, air-fried.
the numbers
22g
protein
~460
kcal
- ·grilled, not fried
- ·swap paneer for chicken, same price
- ·house-made bread
numbers approximate · base-dependent
why it's good
all the char and garlic hit of a late-night shawarma, at lunch, done clean.
toum is the sauce you'll think about after.
have it your way, or ours.