Shawarma Near Me in Shepherd's Bush With a Damascene Menu: Abu Zaad

On Uxbridge Road, a short walk from Shepherd's Bush Market, a chicken shawarma wrap still costs £5.50 at a restaurant that has been cooking Syrian food since the turn of the century. Abu Zaad at No. 29 is where west Londoners searching shawarma near me end up when they want more than a wrap: a big, busy dining room hung with pictures of old Damascus, a menu the owners say runs past 150 dishes, and a kitchen that treats shawarma as one strand of Damascene home cooking.

The restaurant's own history page dates the Shepherd's Bush branch to 2000 and describes it as a pioneer of authentic Damascene cuisine in London; a few years later a second Abu Zaad opened in Ealing. That makes this one of the longer-running Syrian kitchens in the city, and it shows in the room, which the restaurant describes as decorated with framed, illuminated transparencies of Damascene vistas and Damascene antiques.

Size is part of the appeal. Harden's lists the restaurant at around 100 covers with private space for up to 100 more guests, which is unusual for a neighbourhood Syrian place. When Time Out reviewed it, the critic called it furiously busy but noted that plentiful tables and an army of quick waiters kept the turnover moving, and described the whole room as having a pleasantly chaotic air. That review dates from 2013, but the format of big tables and quick service has not changed.

Shawarma here is chicken. The online menu on the Shepherd's Bush page lists a chicken shawarma wrap at £5.50 and a chicken and halloumi shawarma wrap at £6.50, a price that undercuts most restaurant wraps in west London. For a full plate, the barbecue section's chicken shawarma, roasted thin slices of tender marinated chicken, is £14.95, while the house special Abu Zaad chicken shawarma is listed at £13.50. Lamb shawarma does not appear on the current menu.

The smartest starter is the one that combines both worlds. Houmous topped with shawarma costs £7.95 and turns the restaurant's chicken into a mezze, warm meat spooned over a cool chickpea base and scooped up with bread. Ordered with a wrap for each person, it is a filling meal for well under twenty pounds a head, and it is the easiest way to judge the kitchen's marinade before moving on to bigger dishes.

Skip the rest of the menu and you miss why Abu Zaad has lasted. Makloba, rice cooked and covered with aubergine, nuts and lamb and served with yoghurt, is £14.95 and arrives as a proper centrepiece. Fattet makdous, baby aubergines stuffed with minced meat and layered in yoghurt and tahini sauce, is £8.95. Kibbeh shamia, four pieces of lamb and bulgur shells stuffed with minced meat and parsley, is £6.25 and good for sharing.

From the grill, kebab Halabi, minced lamb skewers served with a special traditional sauce in the style of Aleppo, is £16.95. Put together a table of houmous with shawarma, kibbeh, fattet makdous and one makloba and three or four people can eat very well without anyone ordering the same thing. The restaurant also advertises 5% off on Tuesdays, which makes the start of the week a good time for a group visit.

Abu Zaad takes walk-ins and also accepts online table bookings through its website, which is worth doing for Friday and Saturday evenings or for a group of six or more. Because the dining room is large, Time Out found you are unlikely to have trouble getting seated. Service is table service, and the restaurant also runs takeaway and delivery through Just Eat, Uber Eats and Deliveroo if you would rather eat at home.

The rush comes at dinner, especially at weekends when families fill the long tables. A weekday lunch is the calmer choice for a relaxed meal, and it is when the illuminated pictures of Damascus are easiest to admire without a waiter squeezing past. Opening hours are the same every day, so a Monday lunch here is as reliable as a Saturday dinner.

The official Shepherd's Bush page lists one set of hours for the whole week: Monday to Sunday, 11:30 am to 10:30 pm. There is no afternoon closure, which makes Abu Zaad useful for an early lunch before a matinee, a mid-afternoon plate of makloba, or a dinner that starts late after work. If you plan to work through a full mezze spread, arrive well before the 10:30 pm close so nothing feels rushed.

The nearest Underground station is Shepherd's Bush Market on the Hammersmith & City and Circle lines, and the market itself runs beneath and beside the railway viaduct just west of the restaurant. Walk through its stalls of fabric, spices and household goods before or after eating; it is the best place in the area to pick up Middle Eastern pantry staples. Shepherd's Bush Central line station and the Westfield shopping centre are a short walk east along Uxbridge Road.

Heading east from the restaurant also brings you to Shepherd's Bush Green, the triangular park at the end of Uxbridge Road, and to the O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire, the theatre that now hosts concerts most nights. An early dinner at Abu Zaad followed by a gig at the Empire is one of the easiest evenings in west London to plan, and buses along Uxbridge Road run past the door in both directions.

Go to Abu Zaad if you want shawarma at neighbourhood prices inside a proper restaurant, and if you are curious about Damascene dishes like makloba and fattet makdous that few London menus carry. It is less suited to anyone set on lamb shawarma, which is not on the current menu, or to diners after a quiet, low-lit room. For a cheap, generous, sit-down Syrian meal in west London, it remains one of the most dependable choices.

Address: Abu Zaad, 29 Uxbridge Road, London W12 8LH. Email: bush@abuzaad.co.uk. Hours: Monday to Sunday, 11:30 am to 10:30 pm. Prices from the online menu: chicken shawarma wrap £5.50, chicken and halloumi shawarma wrap £6.50, chicken shawarma plate £14.95, houmous with shawarma £7.95, makloba £14.95. Nearest station: Shepherd's Bush Market. Ask Karpo in the Karpo APP for a table or a takeaway nearby.