Smiles 4 Miles Mashawi grill

Mashawi · 149-151 Hereford Street, Christchurch

Lamb, chicken and kufta over live charcoal.

Mashawi is the Levantine word for grilled meat. Here it means skewers threaded to order, laid over coals that have been burning since before service, and pulled off the moment the edges catch. Order ahead, collect at the counter.

Order online Read the menu

Checking tonight’s hours…

Two charcoal-grilled lamb skewers on yellow Arabic rice with grilled garlic, onion and a bowl of chopped salad
The Lamborgrilli, as it leaves the pass
Charcoal, every plate The grill is lit before service and stays on coals all night. Nothing here touches a gas burner.
149-151 Hereford Street Central Christchurch. Collect at the counter, or have it delivered across the city.
Ready in about 15 minutes That is the live pickup time from our till, not a number we invented for the website.

The grill

Meat, fire, and a garnish we mix every morning

Every skewer is threaded by hand. Lamb off the shoulder, chicken thigh for the shish taouk, kufta rolled with parsley and onion the same day it is cooked. They go over the coals for a few minutes a side — long enough to catch colour, not long enough to dry out.

Whole onions and tomatoes sit on the same grill until the skins blacken and the centres turn sweet. After that it is Arabic rice, salad cut fine, tahini or whipped garlic, and Barsha garnish — our own mix, made fresh each morning, and the part most people come back for.

There is no dining room theatre to any of it. A grill, a counter, and a queue that keeps moving.

Nothing goes on until the coals have ashed over and settled. It is the one part of the night we will not rush.
What we cook
Middle Eastern mashawiLamb, chicken, kufta, halloumi and eggplant
How it works
Pickup & deliveryOrdered through our online ordering page
Where
149-151 Hereford StreetChristchurch Central City
Phone
027 642 2242

From the coals

What is on tonight

Prices come straight from the till, so what you read here is what you pay at the counter.
All 15 dishes

Tonight’s plates are loading — or read the full menu.

From the pass

Plates as they actually go out

No stylist and no props. These went to customers on Hereford Street and were photographed on the pass because they looked right on the way past.

Charcoal lamb skewers with turmeric rice, blackened garlic, grilled onion and a side salad
Lamb skewers, Arabic rice, charred onion and whole grilled garlic
Two chicken shish taouk skewers with rice, garlic sauce and chopped salad
Shish taouk with garlic sauce and fine-cut salad
Charcoal-grilled portobello mushrooms dressed with onion, parsley and lemon
Portobello, grilled whole, parsley and lemon

Anatomy of a plate

Four things that come with everything

Order any skewer and this is what arrives beside it. None of it is an extra.

  1. Barsha garnish

    Our house mix, made fresh each morning. It goes on the plates, in the wraps, and we are not writing the recipe on a website.

  2. Arabic rice

    Long grain, turned yellow with turmeric, cooked with the same spices that go into the marinade.

  3. Charred onion and tomato

    Grilled whole on the same coals until the skins blacken and the centres go soft and sweet.

  4. Tahini or garlic sauce

    Sesame with the lamb and kufta, whipped garlic with the chicken. Ask and you can have both.

This week

Opening hours

Loading hours…

These come straight from the till, so what you see is what the grill is doing tonight. Public holidays can differ — give us a ring if you are unsure.

Find us

149-151 Hereford Street

Address
149-151 Hereford Street, Christchurch Central City, Christchurch 8011
Phone
027 642 2242
Ordering
Pickup and delivery, through our ordering page

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Pickup and delivery across central Christchurch · checking hours

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