Al Basha

Al Basha
3143 West Broadway
Vancouver, BC

My dislike for Richmond is quite well know. Crazy drivers, small parking spaces, badly design parking locations, the list goes on and on. However, that isn’t the only part of Metro Vancouver I do not frequent. Vancouver West Side is another of such areas in town, despite there is no particular reason. Probably because of those houses I don’t think I will never have enough moola to purchase? Or, perhaps because there is that sense of “falsehood”. Probably because most of the restaurants are the type where there is more hype to be seen rather than what it is served on the plate? Or because, well, I have had a bad track there? Regardless of the reason, after my visit to the area on Greek Day, I found out there were actually small interesting shops. One of them happened to be Al Basha and I made a mental note to return “soon” and that is what I did…

One thing that works really well for Al Basha is their operating hours: They close at 3:00 a.m. Now, I was there ~10:00 p.m. so it was still way before their closing time but, compared to the other restaurants nearby which was starting to close, at least you know it will be there for you. After walking in, I was greeted by the enthusiastic owner. Now, enthusiastic as in the sense he was all smiles and quite chatty. When he noticed I was holding my camera (the zipper of my camera bag just broke at that moment), he was telling me about his photography adventure and so on. Well, I guess there are things that you can or can’t expect! But, back to the food…

Similar to a lot of shawarma places, there were your usual wraps and plates. I ended up ordering what they call the “Al Basha” plate, which is basically a shawarma plate. Here, it is served with rice, salad and hummus.

The salad was a simple one so no complains… Actually, it had a fair amount of dressing; now, not overdressed but dressed enough. The taste of some of the components of the salad really came out. For example, there was some sweetness in the tomatoes as well as sweetness (and some sharpness) from the onions. Some people might hate this so just leave it as acquired taste.

The hummus wasn’t as watery as some places I have been (like Falafel King) but one touch that is quite evident in the picture is the “drizzle” of oil on top. OK, some of you will say “fat tastes good!” Yes, agreed, but, when I tasted some of it without the extra oil, let just say it hold its own.

Finally, the chicken shawarma itself, served on top of rice. Unlike some places, it wasn’t the regular white parboiled rice. Unfortunately, I didn’t really ask if there was a specific type of rice or seasoning and I didn’t try to find out what it had exactly. I could have tried but let’s just say I was hungry! ^_^;;; The dressing plus the chicken was quite flavourful and each bite made me want to keep on eating… Yes, it had that “savoury” characteristic… (Not necessarily due to salt; sure there was some but it wasn’t overwhelming nor I felt thirsty afterwards).

Despite it is slightly more expensive compared to similar restaurants in Vancouver’s West End, I can still say it is worth the price difference, specially if you are looking for late night eats. As for me, I won’t necessarily drive here, unless it is 1:00 a.m. (at other times, it is a real hassle) and want something to eat and I am in the area. But, still, it is a good option. One final positive aspect on this trip is that it proved me there is some good eats but without some of those “negative” attributes in my head mentioned above.

Tagged under: Chicken • Middle Eastern • Vancouver • West Side