Damascus, brought to St. Paul Street
Authentic Syrian Food in Thunder Bay.
Shekho's isn't a franchise doing a Middle Eastern impression. It's a Syrian family cooking their own food — the same shawarma, garlic sauce, fattoush and kebab they grew up eating in Syria — inside a downtown Thunder Bay shop.
Syrian shawarma has a specific flavour — one you notice the second you taste it beside a chain-restaurant version. The marinade is deeper. The cook is slower. The garlic sauce is fluffier and much, much more garlic. That's what you get at Shekho's.
What makes Syrian shawarma different
In Syria, shawarma is a craft, not fast food. The chicken and beef are marinated overnight in a blend of spices — cardamom, allspice, cumin, garlic, lemon, yogurt — layered by hand onto a vertical spit, and roasted slowly all day. The outside crisps, the inside stays juicy, and it's shaved off in ribbons the moment you order. No pre-cut trays. No steam pans.
Toum: the real Syrian garlic sauce
The white sauce you get at Shekho's isn't mayo with garlic in it. It's toum — a Levantine emulsion of raw garlic, oil, lemon, and salt whipped until it's the texture of a cloud. It's the reason people who eat here once come back. We put it on everything and don't apologize.
Fattoush, kebab, and the rest of the table
Fattoush is a Levantine salad built around crispy fried pita, tomato, cucumber, mint, parsley, sumac, and a bright olive-oil dressing. Kebab is seasoned ground meat, grilled over open flame and served with rice. Both are on the menu because that's how you'd actually eat at a Syrian table — a wrap alone is only half the meal.
A family kitchen, not a chain
The Shekho family arrived in Thunder Bay from Syria in February 2020. Khaleel opened the shop at 19, cooking with his brother, sister, and parents. Every recipe here comes from that kitchen. Read the full story — it's the reason the food tastes like it does.
