Hello again dear reader!

Today’s adventure has taken me to Cessnock, home of amongst other things

• Glasgow’s The Glasgow Science Centre,
• Bellahouston Park, home of occasional gigs and religious visits,
• The dentists where I had my wisdom teeth forcibly removed from my mouth,
• a Co-Op

But you haven’t come here for a geography lesson. No. Chances are you’ve come here because I’ve posted a link on Facebook (and thanks for clicking the link by the way, appreciated!), and you want to read about this place. So, without any further dicking around, here is my review of Beirut 🌟 (pronounced Beirut Star):

It’s good.

Evidently, a very popular place. When I went, I was unable to get a seat – all the tables were taken. Kinda speaks for itself, dunnit? This was unfortunate for me because I was determined to actually have a proper meal for once, and not get a wrap.

“Do you do takeaway?” I enquired. It might seem like a dumb question, given they’re on Just Eat and that, but I genuinely could not see any facility for it. Usually, in restaurants with a takeaway there’s a seat or two for the casual diner on-the-go, but not here. “Yes”, came the reply. Brilliant! Only problem here was, whilst I didn’t want a wrap, I was struggling to think of anything sufficiently portable to eat outside / on the subway.

“One Lamb Shawarma wrap, please”.

(alas, this is the only photo I took, meaning you won’t get to see the obligatory half eaten kebab)

I guess what I am about to type will be mitigated by the fact that they were really busy, but this is probably the quickest shawarma wrap I’ve ever had. It must have taken them in total about a minute to get from order to being in my hand! Now that’s service!

Unfortunately, a shawarma wrap that is cobbled together in a minute is bound to have problems. In this instance, it fell apart. You see, the bread wasn’t warmed, or put in a sandwich press (and they did have one…) – just wrapped really quickly, and what is wrapped quickly falls apart quickly, I’m afraid.

Apart from this mishap (the wrap was rescued, and the only damage was sauce leaking at the bottom), Beirut 🌟 (pronounced Beirut Star) was worthy of it’s reputation. The meat was well done, fairly lean, with a pepper and cinnamon/ginger taste, sweet, hot and earthy. Despite the bread being a little small, they certainly put a full portion in there, and unlike anywhere other than Shawarmarama, they used fresh herbs in with the salad and sauce.

Well worth a visit, but don’t make the mistake I made, it might be worthwhile ringing in advance to see if they’ve got a table.

Overall, 9/10 from me, which means it scores the same as Paisley Road West’s more established kebab shop a mile down the road. Whereas Istanbul missed out on a perfect 10 on account of a lack of seating, Beirut 🌟 (pronounced Beirut Star) miss out on a perfect 10 by having a sandwich press but not using it. Sorry lads.

Beirut 🌟 (pronounced Beirut Star), Paisley Road West, Glasgow (between Ibrox Library and Cessnock Co-Op)

Lamb Shawarma wrap, £4.00

9/10.