Hello!

I do wish this was some kind of delayed April Fools joke, or at the very least a fever dream of some sort, but it’s not. You can now get kebabs, of a sort, in Wetherspoons.

They look like this:

Now, full disclosure: if you’re reading this somewhere south of Preston, you’re in luck! You’ll probably have this on the menu in your local Spoons. If you’re not, you may have to keep your eye out, as it appears only certain Wetherspoons are stocking this at the moment. If you’re in Glasgow, the only Wetherspoons selling this, at time of writing according to the app, is the Crystal Palace on Jamaica Street. (UPDATE: Word has reached me that this is now on the menu in significantly more Wetherspoons, very probably all of them)

With the limited availability disclaimer out the way, is it any good. Reader, let me tell you this: they’ve nailed it. I don’t know how, because on paper it doesn’t work, but it does. The wrap is a standard tortilla wrap, to start with. Nothing grand about it. The sauces are the same sauces they use for other things – the spicy sauce is the naga sauce from their chicken wings, the garlic sauce appears to be their standard salad dressing. The salad itself is more finely chopped than a standard Wetherspoons side salad, and the shawarma, no idea how it’s cooked but it’s very reminiscent of the stuff you can get out of Asda – basically sous vide stuff that you cook for 30 minutes, and then shred with a couple of forks.

This shouldn’t be any good – but it is. Especially the salad dressing bit – possibly a game changer! The meat is really well spiced – my only critique is there’s a quite a bit of pepper in there, and there’s plenty of that meat. The salad/meat ratio is more or less spot on, and you can taste the fresh mint chucked in. Also, it’s very cheap – if you had this with a Pepsi Max, you’d be looking at under £6 for the meal. (it’s just over £7 with a beer!)

If I were a kebab shop proprietor I probably wouldn’t lose too much sleep over Wetherspoons entry into the crowded grilled meat sector, whilst they are very cheap they are also very small, and I suspect the target audience are somewhat different. This being said, it’s nice to have a cheap lunch with pint option, I guess.

JD Wetherspoons

Shawarma Chicken Wrap

Check your local for availability and pricing but I paid £7.21 at the Crystal Palace, Glasgow

8/10