Location: 485B, Salas Street, Ermita Manila (Near Mabini Street corner or one block away from Robinson Mall Ermita)
House Specialty: Shawarma and kebabs
Beside the tourist destination and bars, one of the best reason to visit Manila City (despite the notorious traffic and air polution) is its great selection of stand alone food establishment concentrated in the Malate and Ermita districts. The area is home to various restaurants of various type of cuisine because of its cosmopolitan population. This is where visitors from other nations usually hang out.
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| Two gorgeous towers of roasting meat!!! |
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| Good ol' shawarma place. |
I've been visiting this place for quite some time because I grew up and attended school near those districts. And I actually worked in Ermita for many years. This place is indeed a treasure trove of food spots that I myself haven't got the opportunity to eat at all those places! To me this is just an impossible task because there are a lot of establishments there that I find irresistible to visit again and again and humans only have one stomach to fill up and a set time to digest the food hahaha! Not to mention the humongous cost that it will incurr from my modest income. It is with regret that a lot of joints have aready closed shop before I have the opportunity to visit them or regularly patronize.
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| My fave chicken shawarma! |
One of these joints that I keep coming back is the Shawarma Snack Center. Yeah, I find the name corny too. But when it comes to food, it is really not about the name. For example, I have come across a joint called "Stop and Taste" (cornier name right?) in Malate and that's where I tasted the best damn Mutton and Beef Biryani!!! (It is sad that they already closed shop years ago).
Shawarma Snack Center or SSC for short is very successful that they already branched out across the street.They built this elegant restaurant (where you can mess around with shisha) right across the street and set up a hotel beside it but most of the regular patrons still go to their original small mom 'n pop place and that includes me. Why? I don't know about the other guys but I go there because I just want to eat with no fusses. I'm usually an eat and go type of person unless if I have company. I did tried out their new branch almost 9 years ago after a gig night with my band. Its not bad (same food and service duh).
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| The next door branch (more like an extension). While dining from SSC's original place across the street. |
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| A must try! |
SSC's shawarma comes either in beef or chicken. Small costs 60 pesos and Regular costs 75 pesos. I recommend getting the regular unless the shawarma is for dessert or side dish. SSC has one of the best tasting shawarma in Manila. They do not scrimp in ingredients most specially the spices. You get to have real savory meat in every bite. Bursting with middle easter flavor coming from the spices they use. And what I like most is that they use fresh vegetables and pita. Their pita is the best. It is freshly baked by bakers who know how a good tasting pita taste like and delivered to their restaurant by bicyle riding couriers.In addition to their shawarma's awesome taste, their condiment of hot sauce and yoghurt sauce is amazing! It does not taste like it is just a mixture of garlic powder, sugar and mayonaise... uggh.
Aside from their house specialty they also have hummus, yoghurt shake (sweet or salty) beef/chicken/lamb biryani, chelo kabob, mixed kebab plate, salad (tomato and onions), and a lot more that I can't remember because I do not have a copy of their menu haha. They all taste awesome!
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| The Photo Chop. The best way to illustrate a half chicken order. |
What I love about SSC is that they have these 85 peso value meals. It consists of a meat dish bowl, a side of tomato/cucumber salad, lentil soup,and high quality long grain rice. Compare it your favorite fastfood meal and it is obvious that you'll get a lot more bang with your pesos, you get to eat better food, and it is healthier as they obviously do not process their food. The choice for meat dishes vary each day. So far, all value meal dishes tasted great. They usually have beef keema, beef stew (I forgot the name, it's not in the menu), chicken (sort of afritada), and I think there was a chick pea vegetarian dish.
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| The 85 peso meals! |
I can't really complain about their food or service. Their staff is friendly enough to meet anyone (who is not schizo) else's expectation. If you have questions about their food, they will try their best to explain and describe them
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| Salas Street should be renamed Shawarma Street haha. Both branches face to face. |
Now here is the downside. But this is actually nit picking. From all those countless times that I have visited SSC, there were only two instances that their food was unsatisfactory. First was almost a decade ago when the elegant place was new and we dined out around 2 AM. The kebabs was too salty. I guess the cook was too sleepy haha. And the second time was just a few years ago when they forgot to add salt to the shawarma. I am not a complainer, and considering the "batting average" of SSC, I can let it slide.
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| Pita from SSC. Just got home. |
One more thing before I conclude this post. They used to have this mini-grocery that sell middle eastern spices, ingredients and canned products but currently they just sell olives (ocassionaly) and their nice pita. They sell it for 60 pesos per pack (small for 10 pcs each and big for 5 pcs each). It is a good deal! If you want to make your own shawarma at home or planning to make hummus, try their pita instead of using the frozen pita type in supermarkets. Fresh bread is way better. Also, I use their pita as crust for making home made toaster pizza! And I will update this post sometime in the near future once I have a picture of their biryani.
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| My pictures are coming from a PS Vita, hence the resolution quality. |
Service: Satisfactory. Clean joint and polite staff.
Menu: Awesome menu. They have vegetarian entrees. Great place to introduce yourself to middle eastern food.
Value: A bit pricey. Most entree goes upwards above 300 pesos but they have big serving. You will definitely get what you pay for. But they do make up for it with their 85 pesos meals and the very affordable shawarmas. They also have a promo where you can buy 3 shawarmas at a reasonably discounted prcie.
What Food Spots say about Shawarma Snack Center:
RECOMMENDED
We urge everyone to try it out!
