Brunch: Shefco

Shefco's lamb shawarma is delicious.

Shefco

Cost: $27.98 for two

Address: 827 Dominion Rd

We arrived: Google Maps must have opened up streets around Auckland that most drivers otherwise would not see. Certainly our route to Shefco in Mt Roskill involved a circuitous route through the city fringe suburbs, past state houses, soulless McMansions, charming little bungalows and art deco cuteness. We found Shefco opposite a Hirepool on a stretch of Dominion Rd generously painted with dotted yellow lines and with a great view of the Sky Tower standing sentinel on the horizon. Thus it involved a quick scout around the neighbouring streets to find a car park. We need not have panicked about finding a table though: Shefco was completely empty on a sunny Saturday morning. In fact, only one person crossed its threshold as we ate and he was looking for goodies from the selection of Lebanese foods stored on shelves at the back.

We observed: After noticing the cafe was empty and that the shelves at the back were stocked with a tempting array of exotic foods, the next thing we noticed was the sign stating that no coffee was available. No coffee? No coffee, confirmed the sole worker at the till. So a premix from the fridge it was.

We ate: Shefco offers Lebanese food: shawarmas, kebabs, felafels, plus a selection of curries warming in the bain marie. As the cook prepared our shawarmas (one chicken, one lamb) we poked about among the goodies in jars and tins and walked away with a packet of lebanese bread and a tub of tahini I've been trying to find for ages. We would have walked away with more – I can't resist a tasty dolma and the jars of chillies and pickled cucumbers could have found a place in my pantry – but Shefco doesn't take credit card. I get that small businesses might wish to avoid the fees involved but surely the loss of custom would outweigh that? When our food arrived, wrapped in tinfoil but plated for "eating in" with a neatly placed serviette, we took it to the little portico out the front to watch the world go by. We should have asked for a second or third serviette: those shawarmas were dripping with garlic and yoghurt juices that we managed to drip over most of the table, not to mention smear across our faces. And oh my, they were good. "The best I've ever had," proclaimed my teenage companion. Shefco seems to be more popular as a lunch or early dinner spot but the empty tables meant we were able to make messes of ourselves and our meal without witnesses.