Dirty Hands (Poblacion, Makati City): Get Your Hands Messy with Their Customizable Chicken Shawarma!
Poblacion (Makati City) is home to many Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food spots. Recently, there is a relatively new player in the block—Dirty Hands.
Dirty Hands
Dirty Hands is a Mediterranean restaurant that specializes in customizable Chicken Shawarma. It is the brainchild of Chef Hüseyin Turan, a MICHELIN-trained German-Turkish chef.
Look at the juicy shawarma!
The colors of the space—blue and white—give a Mediterranean vibe.
At the second floor of Dirty Hands
As I said, their shawarma is customizable. You can choose the base and the flavor (see the photo below for options) of your shawarma.
The Menu of Dirty Hands
For the base of our first shawarma, we tried the Tombik, which is a Turkish bread that’s pillowy and used as a vessel for döner kebab. It’s offered in limited quantity per day so we opted for it. We also chose A La Turka, which comes with cacik (cucumber yogurt) sauce, shallots, sumac (a Middle Eastern/Mediterranean spice), and tomato.
Chicken Shawarma (Tombik + A La Turka Meal: PHP460)
The chicken is tender, juicy, and has a nice grilled flavor, sandwiched between soft and crisp tombik bread. The cacik is tangy, while the shallots are crisp and sharp. It’s a world of flavors and textures!
For our second shawarma, we chose Buttered Rice as the base and Paris Paris (truffle mayo, caramelized onion, and tomato) as the flavor.
Chicken Shawarma (Buttered Rice + Paris Paris: PHP460)
It has a nice truffle flavor that doesn’t overpower. It’s also creamy because of the mayo.
We also opted to a make our shawarma into a meal, adding fries and drinks. The fries, oddly, have a cheese-like flavor. I’m not sure if it’s my tastebuds betraying me, and if it fits the flavor profile of the entire meal.
Fries
Dirty Hands doesn’t only offer shawarma but also other Mediterranean-inspired dishes. We tried their Mezze Platter, which is composed of house made crisps, pita, and three dips—Hummus, Muhammara (capsicum, pomegranate, and walnut), and Feta & Lemon.
The hummus is creamy and garlicky, with a strong cumin flavor (if I taste correctly). The muhammara has a nice pepper flavor and is slightly spicy and tangy. The feta and lemon is super sour!
Finally, we also tried the Flammkuchen, which is flame-cooked, thin-crust flatbread. They offer two flavors: Alsace (sour cream, bacon, cumin oil) and Mushroom & Truffle. We asked them to combine the two flavors in one flatbread.
Flammkuchen
The combination the Alsace’s sour cream and bacon is wonderful. The mushrooms are earthy and have a nice flavor, but I’m missing the truffle flavor.
Obviously, Dirty Hands doesn’t try to be authentic. Rather, they have a creative and modern approach to Mediterranean food. My only wish is that they put more brightness and freshness to their food. Perhaps they could add more vegetables, which I expect of Mediterranean food.
But overall, we had a good experience with Dirty Hands. I recommend it to you!
Address: 4558 Quintos St., Poblacion, Makati, Metro Manila, Philippines | Operating Hours: Tuesday-Sunday, 5PM-12AM | Contact No.: 0939-9347891 | Facebook | Instagram