This week’s review came about because of a comment on the Edible Reading Facebook page. I’d posted a link to my do list, as I regularly do, asking if there was anywhere on it that I should prioritise. Somebody chipped in and told me I should check out Shawarma Reading on West Street. “Their mixed shawarma with rice is great on a cold day”, their comment said.

That was all well and good, but the comment wasn’t from just anybody. It was from Mansoor.

Mansoor has been a reader of my blog for as long as I can remember, an early and vocal supporter of what I do. He came to the very first readers’ lunch at Namaste Kitchen, over seven years ago, bringing a blue Toblerone because I’d enthused about them on the blog. He told me that when he was first courting his wife, he used my blog for tips; despite that, it seems to have worked out nicely for him.

He was also one of my very first subscribers, when I launched that last month. “Lifetime subscription please” he said, which moved me more than I can say. And that’s despite the fact that Mansoor, his wife and his beautiful daughter have moved to Bristol now, which makes him one of my few readers who avidly looks forward to reviews from that part of the world rather than ones from the ‘Ding (don’t worry Mansoor, you’ll get some later in the year).

But that’s not why I give Mansoor’s words such weight. Back when he lived in Reading, Mansoor tipped me off about all kinds of places which went on to be favourites. He was the one who told me to check out La’De Kitchen, out in Woodley, and Rizouq on the Wokingham Road. And perhaps most life-changing of all, Mansoor told me once about a little spot doing samosas, also on the Wokingham Road, that I ought to investigate. Years later I still stop by Cake & Cream regularly for their epic samosas and pakoras, and have recommended them to countless others.

So when Mansoor says somewhere is good, I pay attention. And he first mentioned Shawarma to me at a readers’ lunch about eighteen months ago. “Give it six months, and I think it will be worth you reviewing it”, he said. Well, that six months had more than elapsed, and Mansoor’s initial “you might want to try it out” had morphed into a “go here”.