Lunch Pick: Prince of Persia’s Shawarma w/ Persian Rice

Ahh yes… shawarma.

Sometime in the 90’s, this Arabian wrap became the highlight of one’s lunch or merienda hours in the country.  Stores serving only this delicacy were found in every corner back then.  It got so popular that it was mentioned in a song by Eraserheads, franchises were owned by actors, and became an actual word in the English dictionary.

Nowadays, one can still find Shawarma stalls in major malls and near train stations.  They are not as abundant as before but they have gone great lengths in order to differentiate themselves from the other stores hoping that customers would still want to have a taste of this garlicky delight.  For a few pesos more, they would add cheese to the wrap, give you a hummus dip or simply give you a bigger shawarma. 

And then there’s shawarma rice.

Underneath the staircase is a wealth of Arabian delights.

Although there are stalls who indeed serve shawarma wrap innards with rice, Prince of Persia takes it a bit further by adding Persian rice in the mix and separating the vegetables, meat and rice and the garlic sauce.  Located in Eastwood, Prince of Persia serves a plateful of Shawarma with Persian Rice for Php 145.

I’m not familiar with Persian Rice, but browsing the web in Food.com’s website, it apparently is made in such a unique way that the long grains actually separate from each other instead of clumping in its stickiness.  The butter along with salt adds additional fragrance and flavor to this dish.

And this is exactly what I got in Prince of Persia’s rendition of Persian rice.  I can actually pick out the grains one by one using chopsticks without having any other grain getting stuck.  Due to this, I can easily mix in the butter with the rice or even with the entire dish in itself.  Come to think of it, this probably is the perfect rice for dishwashers who hate having to scrub down plates to remove any hardened stuck rice.

The beef is all meat with hardly any fat!

I liked as well that they separated the meat from the vegetables as I can easily make it my very own dish.  I can combine this amount of meat with this amount of onions, cucumbers, tomatoes and rice with little effort.  With a bottle of the famous sauce on the table at my disposal, I can control how tangy, mild or meaty each spoonful would be.  No more problems having a mouthful of onions anymore.

Interestingly, the marinated beef was not oily and dripping in animal fat unlike the ones found in most shawarma stalls.  I don’t think that it was cooked in a traditional shawarma rotisserie though as the meat were sliced in cubic form instead of flat beef shavings (please correct me if I’m wrong).  However, this did not alter the experience a lot as the meat cubes locked in the flavor well making it stand quite well on its own.  And yes, they are tender as I did not have a hard time biting and chewing on these.  Not much grizzle or fat whatsoever can be seen here!

Fresh and crispy, just the way vegetables should be.

I loved the crisp onions, tomatoes, cucumbers and cabbage as well; they were as fresh as they can possibly be.

I agree though that it is a bit expensive at Php 145, but by using top quality ingredients in an ample-sized serving, I'm recommending this as a lunch pick for anyone who wants to enjoy a hearty, delicious meal over lunch time.

Prince of Persia
Eastwood City Walk 1, Libis, Quezon City

---------------------------------
* Captured with a Nokia N82