Chicken Shawarma at Ankara Picnic

This is the place. You can't miss it.

The big mass of chicken that has been on my mind for so long.

Made with love and care.

See the helpful little plastic baggy?

Yummy!

Even more yummy!

(Sorry. Not my pix. Images from the web of the actual place itself. Too hungry and in a rush to shoot my own that day.)

I went to Itaewon this saturday just passed. I've had this image of shawarma in my mind for weeks, if not months now. Every time I went to Itaewon I never had the opportunity to try the shawarma at Ankara Picnic for one reason or another. Today, I went there specifically to do so, as well some shopping afterwards.

For those of you who do not know what shawarma is, it is a Middle Eastern food consisting of roast chicken (or lamb, goat, etc.) carved from a large rotating mass and wrapped in a flat bread with a yogurt based garlic dressing along with shredded lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and (in this case) pickles. Most shawarma in Korea is also known as kebab instead of the proper name of shawarma. Kebabs are actually cube cuts of meat cooked and served on a skewer most of the time. But, the Koreanization of the food has shawarma being called kebabs here. Something to keep in mind if you get confused and/or are looking for shawarma. Just remember it's called kebab here.

Ankara Picnic is a tiny place not much bigger than a few phone booths, but the place is always packed; not even standing room only most of the time. There's always a line up. At least you know everything is fresh under these conditions. The chef carves the meat from the spit carefully selecting only those portions at only the right state of doness. Each shawarma is wrapped with care and then folded into a wax paper wrap with a small plastic bag added to the bottom to stop it from becoming an unmanageable mess halfway into eating it. You can see the care taken in the making of the thing.

The shawarma at this place was excellent; juicy, flavorful, smokey, and just plain awesome. No one ingredient overpowering any of the others; the mixture was superb. An authentic taste for sure. There was none of the Koreanization of the food so evident with most ethnic foods here (well, maybe with the exception of the pickles but they did not detract from the taste at all). The shawarma was so good I pigged out on two of them. Next time I'm in Itaewon again, I'll eat there for sure.

Ironically, Ankara Picnic is also one of the top five shawarma places in Korea as recommended by Dan of Seoul Eats. I only found out about this after the fact when I was searching for some pix to go along with my post. I lucked out!

Highly Recommended.

Name: Ankara Picnic

Cost: W4000

Location: Itaewon Subway Station, just at the top of the stairs of exit #3.