The starter-shwarma

I went to Massov Burger, the much venerated and oft hyped shwarma joint near Jerusalem’s central bus station (and spelled Massov and not Maasov like I misspelled it in my previous post).

I ordered the standard laffa (the basic shwarma) and I had it prepared the way I like it, with humus, pickles, “chips”, tichina, and a little bit of charif.

The Massov shwarma is good – the meat is high quality, but not flavored or spiced, and the chips are very oily (not a bad thing, just an observation). It is a fine shwarma, but not the “world’s only shwarma” like certain upstart shwarma-wannabes say it is.

Massov also has a lot of gimmicks. They have a super size shwarma, an option to have onions fried on the grill and added to your shwarma, a fifty-fifty shwarma/schnitzel sandwich, ketchup, and even napkins. Many American’s go to Massov and I think these gimmicks are a major part of their draw.

My conclusion: Massov makes a decent shwarma and the dining experience is pleasurable (they will even take your picture and post it on the wall). It is a good place to send a beginner. The beginner will be impressed with the gimmicks (as I think my over-confident, over-zealous young friends were) and can brag about the huge shwarma they ate.

On Thursday I am going back to Maoz and will hopefully post my report soon after that.

A special thanks goes out to Mickey, a great Tzaddik and lover of truth, for sponsoring my Massov Burger shwarma.

June 13th, 2006 General, Shwarma