18-05-2025
The new shawarma takeaway so good they sold out twice on the first day
NEWPORT is home to a variety of takeaways and restaurants, but a shawarma restaurant is one of its more unique offerings.
Owned by the team behind the ever-popular Spicy Aroma Balti, which recently celebrated its 30th anniversary, Shawarma Kingdom opened its doors to customers for the first time at midday on Monday, May 17.
We were invited down to try out the new restaurant and takeaway, and we were not disappointed, although we did have to return a second time after we first arrived at 4pm only to be told they had been so busy they had sold out with queues out the door from the minute they opened.
(Image: NQ) By the time we returned at 7pm, they had restocked, but again had people queuing out the door, which we were incredibly impressed by as they had only opened earlier that day. Within an hour, they had again sold out, showing just how popular they were quickly becoming within the local community, even from day one.
Tolu Aluko with her children Maya and Mayo were among the first customers on Shawarma Kingdom's first evening (Image: NQ) We had the chance to speak to some locals who had come along to try out the new restaurant and takeaway, and the response was glowing, and overwhelmingly positive.
So many were thrilled to have an affordable, delicious, family-run business right in the heart of Newport that they could visit with family and friends.
Joanne Bagenal with her six-year-old son Lorcan (Image: NQ) There was plenty of praise for both the staff and food, with multiple people calling it "amazing" and saying the staff had been "absolutely brilliant" all day, with particular focus on how attentive they had been to all customers despite being significantly busier than they had originally expected on opening day.
Chicken shawarma (Image: NQ) Much of the popularity comes from the friendliness of the staff, for whom nothing was too much - we even saw them host a young child's birthday party at the end of the night when they had almost fully sold out and had been working hard all day.
Lamb shawarma (Image: NQ) It was clear from speaking to customers who visited that this place is surely going to become a heartbeat of the community.
We saw that from the moment we stepped in and were offered a cold drink, pizza, fries and two types of shawarma - chicken and lamb - to try.
Pizza (Image: NQ) We were not disappointed - all the meat was cooked to perfection, wonderfully juicy and doused in a delicious array of sauces including garlic and chili.
The pizza was warm, cheesy and full of that flavour that makes your tastebuds sing.
Shawarma as it cooks in full view of customers (Image: NQ) Owner Bodrul Alam said: "It is really important to us as a family business that we are able to make this affordable food for everybody.
"We want to be a strong part of the community, and we know that a lot of takeaways aren't always affordable for some people in this area, and we wanted to change that.
"We know we could make our prices more expensive - people have said they would pay more for our food - but we wanted to make sure we were somewhere everyone could afford to come and eat and be together."
Friends Ismail, Cami and Callum said the atmosphere had been brilliant and they were pleased to have an affordable takeaway in the community (Image: NQ)
Shawarma Kingdom is open on 2 Constance Avenue Newport between 12-9pm Saturday to Thursday and 3-9pm on Friday.
