Top 10 Shawarma spots of Kochi - Updated 2026
- 15 hours ago
- 5 min read
Our second article on trying to find the best shawarmas of Kochi (1st article). - this is an opinion piece by an ex-Gulf NRI and a Kerala local. This time we try to cover most of the top reviewed places - the list is not in any particular order.
Sultanate of Shawarma
Order: Greek, Egyptian and Turkish Shawarma
Local Opinion: Good pickles
Turkish - Too much mayo, loads of fries.
Greek - Lettuce gives a sandwich feel. Faint sour taste
Egyptian - This tasted the most distinct because of the falafel and was nice.
Ex-NRI Opinion: The turkish shawarma was good - tangy and garlic-y. Greek tasted similar in spite of the tzatziki. The falafel in the egyptian shawarma was a nice touch, because of which it wasn't too dry. The pickles were very good - salty, sour and crunchy.
Shawarmer (Kakkanad)
Order: Normal Shawarma, Crispy Shawarma and the Special Shawarma
Local Opinion: All felt very oily and lacked colour and ingredients (variety) in the filling.
Special tasted a bit sweet, maybe due to added cheese but it didn't feel any special.
Good customer service, enthusiastic chetan. Overall felt like we had some major junk food and madupp feeling by the end of the meal. Coke / Pepsi might help cut the feeling.
Ex-NRI Opinion: I liked the Normal Shawarma because it tasted like a proper Kerala shawarma. The crispy shawarma was oily because of the fried chicken. The pickles given were meh. The place is dingy and a little unclean. However, the service is very good with a friendly chettan.
Bektash (Kakkanad)
Order: Normal Shawarma, Full Meat Shawarma and Beef Sheekh Kabab Roll
Local opinion: Overall the flavour for both the shawarma was mild and tasted a little sweet maybe. We had asked for less mayonnaise, but they still tasted heavy on the mayonnaise. The meat was hard too, probably overcooked. Kubboos version would be even sweeter. Beef sheekh kabab roll was meaty and filling, but had a little spicy kuth.
Ex-NRI Opinion: Not like the Kerala shawarma, the normal shawarma was mild in flavour. Maybe a bit too mild. Nothing special about the shawarmas here. The pickles were under-salted.
Meat Barrel (Edapally)
Order: Turkish shawarma and the Meat Barrel Special Shawarma.
Local Opinion: This was a good shawarma. It felt authentic because it had no mayo and only garlic toum. Mild middle-eastern spices with a slight tangy-ness to it. Good pickles.
Texture was a bit like burrito - maybe because everything was chopped and mixed up?
The ambience inside is so nice; we pass by it always and never knew it. There is live music as well.
Ex-NRI Opinion: Definitely on the top for a good gulf shawarma - the Turkish shawarma was tangy and delicious. The chicken was not overly spiced and tasted good. The pickles were good too. The special shawarma came with fried, pickles and extra sauces. It was pretty good too.
Al Taza (Kakkanad)
Looks like a nice dine in space. Good strong A/C. Warm customer service.
Order: Classic Lebanese with pita, Normal shawarma and Hummus plate.
Local Opinion: Lebanese shawarma was super. Tangy, light and soft pita. The normal shawarma had a spicy kuth -kick- to it and tasted more like an Indian shawarma. Hummus plate felt a little under-salted.
Lame Hindi playlist. Free Spotify. Friendly service.
Ex-NRI Opinion: The classice lebanese was most like a shawarma from the gulf. Tangy and with just enough toum and the soft pita with the mildly spiced chicken made this our favourite instantly. Good pickles too. We now understand the hype behind this place.
Lulu Supermarket (Inside LuLu Mall)
Order: Lebanese, Spicy and Mediterranean Shawarma.
Local Opinion: These were surprisingly good. Spicy shawarma had good heat and was a little tangy. There were some leafy greens like lettuce inside as well as pickles.
Mediterranean shawarma was lighter, mildly spiced, not overly filled with mayonnaise. They probably use their own kuboos which is why it is very fresh.
No separate pickles. Both were ₹109
Lebanese shawarma was made with rumali roti and was heavy on the chicken, big and cheesy. This was ₹159. Good cross section. Lots of fries. Correct amount of mayo.
Ex-NRI Opinion: Same as above :). Maybe not like gulf shawarma but definitely worth a try.
Haji Ibrahim (Kaloor - Kadavanthara Rd)
Order: Normal Chicken Shawarma, Chicken Shawarma with Tahini, Beef Shawarma
Local Opinion: Normal Chicken Shawarma: The mayonaise kind of tasted a little sweet, but I liked it.
Chicken shawarma with Tahini: You can really taste the tahini. I guess it could use more varieties (colours) in the filling. It looked bland.
Full meat Beef Shawarma: I didn't like it. The beef had a very peculiar spicy kutth(not the good type) taste to it. Very one dimensional.
The rumali is too thick, or too big and they wrapped it too much.
Ex-NRI Opinion: Based on the reviews, this place just felt highly-over-hyped. The shawarmas had little to no flavour. Bland and too much rumali roti. Not good.
Shawarma Daddy (Padivattom)
Daddy's whole meat roll sounds so wrong.
Order: Chicken Shawarma roll, Khartoush and Mariya shawarma
Local Opinion: Mariya: Mayo and cheese overload, exactly the type I used to associate Kerala shawarma with.
Chicken shwarma roll: Nothing special.
Khartoush: Oily. Sick feeling madupp
Good A/C. Club music. Good view
Ex-NRI Opinion: Okay okay. The shawarma roll was not too bad, nothing special though. Most of the options here have cheese. If you like cheese in your shawarma, then this place could be for you.
Pitaworks (Padamughal)
Order: Classic Lebanese, El Mexicano, Falafel wrap and Chicken Fillet Wrap
Ex-NRI Opinion: Definitely on our top favourites. The lebanese was mildly flavoured with toum and pickles. All of them had pickles. Which might be why they don't give pickles separately (only negative). El Mexicano was spicy enough and probably would appeal to our general malayali taste. The wraps were okay. Maybe a bit too cheesy. The falafel felt dry and the chicken wrap was a little oily.
Local Opinion: Same as above.
Wah Turk!
Yet to try out this place. Not sure if they are closed, considering their reviews are from a year ago.
Grill Town Kangarapady
Order: Regular chicken shawarma, Spicy shawarma
Opinion (both local and Ex-NRI): Decent Kerala-style shawarma. Spicy shawarma has a kuth to it. This place has good grills - Al Faham, Shawaya/Shawai.
We know shawarma taste is very subjective - I hated some of the top popular places, for example. Let us know your opinion in the comments below!
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