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Shout out to the 3am crew
Now, we’d be lying if we said that one massive factor in the blossoming of Lebanese London restaurants wasn’t shawarma. Good old shawarma, standard fare for the 3am crew and perhaps what comes to most minds first when you mention Lebanese restaurants in London, or indeed anywhere else. It’s true that many of London’s Lebanese restaurants could be more accurately described as kebab shops, but, and here’s the important part, it’s unfair to lump them in with all the kebab shop connotations. Shawarma is very often high quality meat (lamb, chicken, turkey, beef, or mixed) and it’s almost always served with classic Middle Eastern garnishings – fresh salad, tahini, hummus, pickled turnips, the list goes on. It may be the go-to for the 3am crew but in no way does this take away from shawarma being a gateway into the world of Lebanese food.