The Manchester food scene is something I admire and have often lauded. I’ve even gone as far as saying in some regards it is better than the great foodie city of London. One of the things it is known for is having great shawarma spots. From the numerous options, Levenshulme Bakery is meant to be the best or right up there anyway. That’s the claim that has been put forward by locals and foodies. We visited on our recent trip to Manchester as we were nearby (visiting Shake Bee). Read on to find out how our experience went.
The vibes
It’s your standard humble Arab shawarma joint. Small, charming, affordable, smells great and packed full of hungry punters. Evidently popular as a lot of locals were in the shop when we went. Mostly ordering to takeaway. There is seating, but it is limited, so takeaway will probably be your best option if busy. The service was good. We were greeted with a smile and even when we complained (see below) they took it on board and dealt with it appropriately. My only qualm is that they do not accept cards. It is a cash only establishment, which I feel harms the experience. And it’s 2023 – I don’t see any reason to not accept cards (except one…). This in turn, affected our order as we could only order what we had cash for. They do accept bank transfer though, but that is just long and not worth the trouble for a shawarma. The prices though, £4.50 for a loaded shawarma in samoon is a bargain and a steal for this time and age. So, bravo for that!
The taste
Now, let’s talk about the all important taste. In short, we did not love it. In fact, we barely liked it. We ordered the chicken shawarma in samoon bread. We had heard great things about the freshly baked in-house samoon. But this was something that flatter the overall dish. The samoon was nice and soft, but soggy and really got overwhelmed by the shawarma and its fillings. Also, in terms of how you consume it, I did not like it. It is difficult to take a bite and get everything in that bite unlike you would in a wrap. It was just a bit awkward. This was the first time trying samoon and probably will be my last. Now the shawarma itself, unfortunately, it was bland. It lacked flavour and it didn’t help that all the sauces and salad (which we asked for) was all at the bottom. And because when I bite into the samoon shawarma sandwich, I have to bite from the top meaning I don’t get any of what is at the bottom. In fact, I didn’t even see the bottom, so I had to go back and tell them to give me salad and sauces because they forgot. But actually they didn’t forget, it was just at the bottom. Hmmm. Nonetheless, they were kind enough to add more salad and sauce on top as you can see from the pictures.
So, an underwhelming experience. Like I said, I’ve seen claims of this being the best in Manchester. So, based on that I am willing to give it another go. I am going to assume good of them and say this was a bad batch / offering. Or maybe I should’ve got lamb shawarma? Or maybe in a wrap as opposed to samoon. I did start to doubt myself because I had seen so many positive reviews. I even went on Google and yes mostly positive, but the handful of negative reviews I saw seem to resemble my exact experience.
Getting there
Google maps location link: click here
