Habibi Delish

At Habibi Delish, the shawarma turns a few steps from a fryer working through poutine and onion rings, and the kitchen runs both as if they belong on one menu — which, here, they do. Chicken and beef come off the spit carved to order and folded into sandwiches, plates, and bowls; that shawarma is the anchor the rest of the menu hangs on. But this Lambton Mall Road counter is just as fluent in the Canadian diner food a Sarnia table reaches for on the same trip, and the breadth is deliberate rather than scattered. The menu is built so a group can land on a Lebanese plate, a rice bowl, or a loaded poutine without anyone having to compromise to keep the peace.

The signature is the Tony Special Plate: chicken shawarma laid over hummus and vegetables with garlic, cabbage, and pita, a full meal assembled on a single plate. From there the kitchen scales up. Rice and Chicken Supreme adds rice, turnip, pickle, and tahini beneath the same shawarma; the combo plates pair shish tawook with shish kabob, or kabob with shawarma, for a table that wants more than one thing off the grill. Lamb kafta and beef kafta skewers hold the grilled end. The crossovers are where the kitchen shows its hand — mala fries bury shawarma, hummus, garlic, and hot sauce under a pile of fries, and that same shawarma turns up again inside a poutine. Vegetarians are not an afterthought: the Vegetarian Plate runs falafel with hummus or baba ghanouj, fattoush or tabbouli, and pita, backed by a half-dozen falafel, a cabbage salad, and a garlic sauce regulars treat as a food group.