The story, chapter by chapter
A selection of our films for Da.Si.Mar Shawarma. Tap one to watch it with sound.
The shop
A taste of Syria on Yonge Street
- 673 Yonge Street, TorontoOpen until 2 AM, and 4 AM on summer weekends
- “A taste of Syria in every bite”Shawarma, Syrian falafel, BBQ and Arabic sweets
- 1,760 Instagram followers
Da.Si.Mar Shawarma promises “a taste of Syria in every bite”. On Yonge Street in Toronto it serves shawarma, Syrian falafel and beef kabab plates, BBQ trays, ice cream and Arabic sweets, until 2 AM, and until 4 AM on summer weekends.
In the year before us, its biggest videos came from food creators who stopped by. Its own posts kept coming, steady and small, until 15 September 2026, when it posted one with a caption that said it all: “The algorithm doesn’t reward effort.”
The first film
“Alexa, play something that’ll make me hungry”
Twelve days later, on 27 September 2026, our first film asked Alexa for something to make you hungry. Alexa’s answer: the spit, beef and chicken turning, carved behind the counter by a cook in Da.Si.Mar’s own shirt.
The wrap
No jokes, no words, just the wrap
Six days later we made a film with no words on screen at all: one beef wrap, start to finish. The bread warmed against the spit, the sauce spread, then the beef, pickles, fries and pomegranate molasses, rolled and pressed on the grill. Twenty-four seconds.
Da.Si.Mar posted it on 3 October 2026, and it went viral: 3.79M views.
The feed
More chicken, and a free wrap
The feed kept going: a chicken shawarma spit carved into a packed wrap (“Look at all that chicken shawarma”), and a dare to send a film to someone, so they owe you a free shawarma.
