Soam Fast Food restaurant in Durres

We already wrote about the Albanian fast food scene and how McDonald’s has its copycat called  Kolonat in the capital city of Albania, Tirana. As we traveled to Albania on our Adria tour we wanted to check out some places that offer different fast food options. There were not as many as I thought it would be.

After leaving Shengjin, we headed to Durres, and after a long walk around the city, we wanted to eat something quickly before we go back to the hotel. We came across a fast food restaurant called Soam that offers both sweet and salty. That sounds like a good idea, I thought.

Soam Fast Food inside, Photo: Adria.fun

We were welcomed and seated by a nice staff and checked the menu. To my surprise, besides burgers and kebabs, they were offering shawarma too. For those that don’t know what shawarma is… thin vertically stacked meat, usually made of well-spiced chicken and rolled in thin Arabic bread with garlic sauce, and pickled veggies, and sometimes it contains fries inside.

As I lived in the Arab country for almost 4 years and tried over 1000 different restaurants that serve shawarma, I somehow expected them to know what they are serving as they put it on the menu.

Before I ordered, I asked the waiter if it was made originally, and does it come with fries. The waiter, surprised by my question said; shawarma is shawarma, and that it does not come with fries. At that very moment, I realized I should have taken something else from the menu…

Once the meal arrived, in the same second I saw it, I told my team; I am sorry but this is not shawarma..have a nice tortilla or something…Don’t take me wrong, the food was good, just it wasn’t shawarma.  With the “sandwich,” we had to order fries additionally and the portion was big. For drinks, we had cola and Albanian beer.

“Shawarma”, Photo: Adria.fun

The total bill was 2090 All ( 20.90 euros) from which “shawarma” cost 380 All, Albanian beer Korça was 200 All (2 euros), cola was 150 All each (1.50 euros), and the portion of fries was 150 All (1.50 euros). Not bad right?

Soam Fast Food, Photo: Adria.fun

Besides the salty fast food, Soam Fast Food restaurant also offers sweet stuff like pancakes and waffles which we sadly didn’t try this time, so in case you visit it and try it out, please let us know how it was in the comments below!