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-   -   Doner Kabob thread? (https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/doner-kabob-thread-447921/)

jenblase Oct 23rd, 2008 10:17 AM

Doner Kabob thread?
 
I recall reading in someone's trip report about a thread all about these places that you find in Germany and Austria. Since I am going in a few weeks, I'd like more info. Can anyone find the specific thread about these places? I did a search with all sorts of spellings and nothing came up.

Thanks!

jenblase Oct 23rd, 2008 10:21 AM

Maybe cuz it's actually spelled kebab... duhhhh.

Reisender Oct 23rd, 2008 10:22 AM

I love those things, especially the ones that have the pomme frites dumped on top. I have had them in France, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. Yummy.

quokka Oct 23rd, 2008 10:57 AM

>Maybe cuz it's actually spelled kebab... duhhhh.

... and döner, not doner.

Döner stalls are at about every second street corner in all cities. Since most of them get their meat from the same big butcher companies there cannot be much difference in quality.
I'm better not going to tell you about last year's repeated mouldy meat scandals concerning döner...

traveller1959 Oct 23rd, 2008 12:43 PM

Döner Kebap

"Döner" means "turning" and "kebap" means "meat".

Virtually everywhere. Usually, you get a "Döner Tasche" which is fried fried stuffed with Döner, salad and sauce. They ask you about the salad: "Mit alles?" (grammatically wrong) meas "with everything?". Then you can say, e.g. "ohne Zwiebeln" - "without onions". "Scharf" means "spicy".

The "Döner Tasche" is finger food - take at least two or three napkins, can be messy like a Taco. When you sit down, you will be served Döner Kebab as an entree, not with bread but with rice.

Quality of meat? At least not worse than McDonald's (McDonald's porudly says they use the "front quarter" of the cow - this means they scrape the meat off the skull, but, well, head meat is a common German dish: Ochsenmaulsalat, Schweinkopfsülze..).

traveller1959 Oct 23rd, 2008 12:44 PM

Sorry, fried fried should read "fried bread".

Zeus Oct 23rd, 2008 12:53 PM

Wanna learn more? Check out this most excellent site:

http://tinyurl.com/665gvd

I salivate each time I watch

Travelnut Oct 23rd, 2008 06:54 PM

We ate this in Cologne in a shop somewhere near 'old town' but in a modernized shopping area. Hadn't ever eaten 'doner' before but it was cooked fresh and absolutely memorable!

Mathieu Oct 23rd, 2008 07:53 PM

Ha. How interesting.

Just watched Zeus' video clip and discovered something. The rotating tower of grilled meat they show being shaved off into little pieces is known as 'Sharwarma' here in Toronto, when it is made of chicken pieces or lamb fillets piled into a tower.
What we call 'Doner' over here is finely ground beef that is pressed together to form a tall tower of meat that also grills as it rotates. It too is shaved off to order but the shaved bits don't fall to pieces but come off as long strips which are then chopped. I observed the same naming of these meats while travelling in Jordan and, oddly, the Caribbean.

Also, as the Australian in the Video remarked, we too have them 'wrapped' in thick pita-like bread, though now its becoming more common (and easier to eat) to get them stuffed into a pocket.

The lamb ones are my favourite. Absolutely delicious tossed with hot sauce, Garlic sauce, hummous, shredded lettuce, tomatoes, onions and tabbouleh - or whatever you like.

GreenDragon Oct 24th, 2008 07:26 AM

Whenever we saw Doner Kebabs in England/Scotland we had to laugh. There is a story of the Donner Family who tried to pioneer through the Rocky Mountains (I think) and ended up having to resort to cannibalism on their dead to survive... so the concept of 'donner kebabs' just reminds us of that story. Sick, I know :(

missypie Oct 24th, 2008 07:43 AM

We at one in Heidelberg where the employees were incredibly surly. Then ther was the one in Austria where the proprietor pretty much hit on me in front of his wife and my husband and kids....

susanna Oct 24th, 2008 07:53 AM

GreenDragon...I have the same visions. In fact when we drive up to Tahoe we always joke "hope we can get one of those yummy donner kabobs!" Yes, sick.

On a serious note, I love them.

susanna Oct 24th, 2008 07:56 AM

Forgot to add: The Donner family was trying to cross the Sierra's, it was the worst winter in 150 years, although they didn't know it. They got stuck so close to the summit, but couldn't get over it. We now have Donner Lake in the Sierra's where they stopped.

genabee6 Oct 24th, 2008 08:45 AM

If you ever go to Munich, Germany, and get off at the Hauptbahnhof (train station) and get off towards Landsberger St (I think that's the name) and there's a bunch of little vendors in the building across from the station....The Doner Kebab place that's over there is WONDERFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!

Too bad I live in Ohio and wish I had a private jet to fly me over there for the day to get one! It sounds so good....yum...with a big glass of beer!

kerouac Oct 24th, 2008 09:35 AM

There are something like 2000 McDonald's in France but about 30,000 doner kebab places. That says something.

There was an article in the paper the other day saying something I didn't know -- the giant meat blobs that go on the roasting spits are almost exclusively imported from Germany. It was also mentioned that even though people consider this to be an Islamic specialty (which it really isn't since it is just as popular in Greece), verifications of the meat on the spits have shown that about 28% of the time, pork is one of the components.

zelphiacat Oct 24th, 2008 10:33 AM

Just as long as it's not Blitzen or Rudolph kebabs!

Zeus Oct 24th, 2008 11:02 AM

On our most recent student tour of Europe we dined on Kebabs at lunchtime in Paris, Nice, Avignon, Orange and Madrid. Best bang for the buck in Europe. And each place tasted just a tad different than the previous one.


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