Like someone who always crosses paths with the same neighbors in their neighborhood, if you live in Valencia and you have Instagram you’ve surely come across videos of a restaurant with the same claim: “Authentic Shawarma in Valencia” during the last few months.
La Shawermeria, in the Algirós neighborhood, is one of the latest locals to surf virality in networks with its opening in Valencia. Its recipe, Palestinian shawarma (not kebab) made in an artisanal way.
The history of La Shawermeria
The story of this Palestinian restaurant was recently revealed by journalist Eugene Costello in a report in Valencia Life magazine.
La Shawermeria is the story of Sami and Kris, owners of the restaurant, and Mufdi, kitchen manager, who came from London to Valencia looking for a change of life and found a gap in the market: the absence of an authentic artisanal shawarma.
Everything here is homemade. The meat, from the best halal butcher in town, is marinated for 24 hours in a blend of over twenty spices. From falafel to kibbeh, everything is made daily using traditional recipes.
But what really defines it, as Costello details in his report, is that this place is much more than just a restaurant. It is a bastion of Palestinian identity.
The decoration, the brave bet to offer Cola Palestina and, above all, a team formed entirely by Palestinians who help their families, make it a project with a deep cultural significance in Valencia. From Clariano Street, the team of La Shawermeria defends the identity of the country thousands of kilometers away from Gaza and Jerusalem.
A project that Sami and Kris now intend to export outside Valencia with the creation of franchises of the brand in Madrid and Barcelona.
You can read the full report on the Valencia Life website, originally published in English.