Doner(where is the Umlat on my keyboard?)

Döner(thanks copy and paste!) Kebab which was actually first stuffed into a piece of bread in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin at a little place called Hasir.

A Döner is a Massive hunk of heavily seasoned mystery meat. I mean massive, MASSiVE This is an image I captured after the lunch rush. Can you imagine this bad boy at breakfast time?

I have loved Döner ever since I first got one in spain last summer. My girlfriend also has a fondness for Döner, well a little fondness. I was well on my way to having a Döner a day and she was suddenly not too fond of Döner anymore. But this delightful bit of mystery meat had found its way into my heart(not literally though it probably would have at a Döner a day).

At least this little guy with his face buried in a Döner Kebab agrees with me.

Almost everywhere claims that their Döner is Halal which means no pig parts but a genetic test run by a major newspaper showed some places had meat containing beef, lamb, chicken, and pig all at once. Not really Helal, but tasty none the less.

So there are two main choices when it comes to a Döner sandwich in Berlin, Durum Döner and Döner Kebab.

A Döner kebab is a quarter of a turkish flatbread with a big layer of meat along with cabbage, onions and red cabbage(we are in Germany after all). Then there are several sauces yogurt, chili and brown. I never really figured out what the brown sauce is... I think this is for the best.



A Durum Döner is a tortilla like flatbread that is filled with the same ingredients and rolled into a burrito like shape and wrapped in aluminum foil. For some reason this option always costs 50c more.



Kaplan is a major player in the Döner game, a game which now is estimated to be worth something 3.25 billion dollars in sales in just germany


They aren't my favorite producer of Döner, but the are well seasoned heavily salted and a great go to lunch. There are still a few independent producers of Döner usually their skewers aren't quite as beautiful and uniform as a kaplan Döner, and often cost a bit more. But they can be more unique and more tasty. I think of kaplan maybe as the McDonalds of Döner, it's not very good, but you know what you are going to get when you order one.

One of my favorite places for a good one off unique Döner is Mustafa's outside Mehringdam U station right next to Curry 36 stand where the best currywurst in Berlin is(see my currywurst post for more on this.) Check out their Website pretty awesome. The Döner here has a more real and unique taste. The meat is sliced off and mixed with roasted fall fruits(apples pears etc) that have been sitting under the turning spit. A Döner comes with yogurt sauce and chili sauce, the usual vegetables and with a very strong salty feta cheese which sets off the roasted fruits in the meat and makes for a very tasty Döner. The only problem I have with Mustafa's is the very lackluster bread. it tastes like plain white hamburger buns and is more of an afterthought than a compliment.


Very tasty and very very messy:
What? I'm just saving some for later... on my face.

-NOM!