Over the course of my not-so-adult adult life. I've often been mistaken for an Indian. No kidding. When boyfriend and I are together, we are collectively mistaken as Middle Eastern siblings so often that we've started calling ourselves #TeamIndia. 

I honestly can't count how often I've been asked if I were Indian, Pakistani or Iranian. Actually, that's a lie, I can. 27 times, and counting.

All of this boils down to us, #TeamIndia, spending one nice afternoon at Shawarma Gourmet Restaurant at Parkmall.

Now would be a nice time to say that shawarma technically has Arabic and Levantine origins, not Indian, but whatever.

Thanks to Mr. Leylam's influence over grocery food stalls, everyone now knows what shawarma is. It's pita bread, some tomatoes, and other greens, plus some grilled meat spinning on a skewer and some sauce.

 What I didn't know was that shawarma could actually get better. 

In this case, Shawarma Gourmet Restaurant's chicken shawarma has destroyed me from eating Leylam's shawarma. Possibly forever. 

Their restaurant, located at Parkmall (right next to Mooon Cafe and Coffee Dream) is nice and cozy and is reminiscent of a New York hangout: all chrome tables and bright colors. And the food is just great. The shawarma comes in two different sizes and you can actually choose the meat. We had the chicken shawarma and I'm just so happy that it tastes really good.

It's packed with juicy meat until the very bottom of your wrap. The sauce has great flavor. The wrap itself is thin and hot and has a smokey feel to it. All of this is best paired with fries and their house-blend ice tea.

I also made boyfriend taste hummus for the first time. I loved it and he loved it so I guess it's safe to say we'll be eating a lot of hummus from now on. :)

Usually, boyfriend and I opt for Japanese as our go-to happy food, but Shawarma Gourmet specifically comes in as a close second. Their meals are affordable and authentic and their place is great for chilling out.

Check out their full menu here.

We'll be heading back to try the rest of the menu.

Shawarma Gourmet Restaurant is located at the Ground Floor of Parkmall, Mandaue City. They're open from 11am-11pm.

Have you tried Shawarma Gourmet?

Let me know in the comments below! :)