Incredible Shawarma & Middle Eastern Food @ Zaytouna Cascais

Ah, Zaytouna. Our top spot as our favourite not-so-guilty pleasure, for many a reason, but I'll get to that in detail later in this article. First a little background.

So here's the thing, while I was born in Canada, on my mother's side, I am Lebanese, and on my father's side I am Egyptian.

While I would never say that Middle Eastern food is my "favourite" - as there are way too many incredible types of cuisine from so many different cultures that I couldn't possibly choose just one - I will say that when it comes to comfort food that simultaneously is easy on my stomach, healthy, and easy to eat, Middle Eastern food is up there as one of my favourites.

Luckily for me, Thomas grew up eating Middle Eastern food as well, and these days cooks a number of less time consuming dishes for us quite frequently. Most Middle Eastern food does not qualify in terms of quick-to-prepare, and sometimes we just want it pronto, however.

The problem? Most Kebab / Shawarma offerings are nowhere near traditional, nowhere near fresh, and they're more along the lines of a fast food equivalent to a tasty but not-quite-healthy burger or pizza takeaway than they are the kind of thing that reminds me of my two grandmothers' home cooking.

Zaytouna Cascais, however, breaks the norm - while simultaneously not being anywhere near close to breaking the bank, albeit being made with such high quality, fresh, and varied ingredients.

I wouldn't personally say that it's completely authentic, based on what I grew up with. But in a similar way to how I absolutely adore SOYA Noodle Bar here in Cascais for their traditional-inspired yet modern and elevated Asian cuisine - I love Zaytouna for their almost elevated, unique spin on home cooked Middle Eastern food.

I mean truly, there is no way my grandmother's homemade falafel sandwich was anywhere near this level of healthy. By comparison to most restaurant food? Yes, absolutely it was healthy. But it was fried to high heaven and oily for flavour, only had a few ingredients (the falafel, as well as some hummous slapped onto Arabic bread and rolled up), and it did the job. The falafel sandwiches from Zaytouna?

I mean, that's clean eating in a nut shell to me. A lot of variety in vegetables, great texture, light on the oil, heavy on the good health, and tasty to boot. I'm not sure what else you could ask for (besides a side of hummous to dip this incredible sandwich in, which I had at home so I absolutely did).

But I'm burying the lead, because in no way is the falafel sandwich is where the true golden goose lies in Zaytouna's menu. Have a look at this chicken shawarma sandwich:

I mean - does that look like a home cooked sandwich to you? No. Because it's better.

Heavy on the garlic in their garlic sauce, just the way we like it in the Middle East, this tasty morsel is jam packed full of fried potatoes and pickles and a hint of tomato - all in the perfect ratio. It's quite a lot more filling than you'd expect (although you can probably tell by the weight of the sandwich) and as I mentioned, quite a lot healthier than I'd expect even home cooked food, let alone restaurant shawarma to ever come close to feeling.

A guilty pleasure that doesn't even qualify as being guilty for your waistline or your wallet? Sign me up!

So we, of course, had to try basically every other thing at that wonderful restaurant that struck our fancy, and ended up finding the perfect combination for a dinner between Thomas and I was two of these Chicken Shawarma Sandwiches (one for each of us), and a third sandwich that we split in half that's completely vegetarian friendly - the incredible eggplant-and-cauliflower Jenin Sandwich.

I sadly don't have a picture of this delightful dish to share with you because we gobble it up too quickly to remember to take a shot of these days.

What I do have a picture of to share with you is the runner up for second place, which we thought stood a chance at first - their Kofta Sandwich:

Delicious? Yes. But it couldn't come close to how we felt about the Chicken Shawarma sandwich, so we opt to have a full one of those each, and by the time we're done scarfing down one of those, we don't have the need to overindulge with another half of a meaty sandwich, hence the Jenin as the perfect accompaniment.

We tried their Zaatar on bread sides and these were delicious as well, but unnecessary as we feel quite full with our order with a sandwich and a half each, and we're trying to cut down on carbs.

Still, I absolutely cannot complain about a single thing I have ordered from this restaurant, and so I urge you to not only try this place out if you haven't yet, but to try out anything on the menu that strikes your fancy, as I cannot even fathom there being a disappointing dish, only some that you obsess over more than others.