To Kebab, or not to Kebab? That is the question.

Have never eaten a kebab in all our trips to Europe. Rarely eat them at home either. Have eaten Greek gyros. Are they similar in taste.

1 - 3 per week at least, doner
2 - at the shop
3 - lunch, snack, dinner
4 - just doner
5 - Han an excellent one in Mannheim. In Bacharach I had to make sure I was being charged for everthing we ordered. It seemed too cheap !

Most have been in Germany but also had them in Nice and Florence

Can’t wait to get back for more !

Kind of like curry is a national dish in the UK now.

Even the non-Greek mediterranean restaurants around here call them gyros on the menu as people would be confused as to what they were.

Have never eaten a kebab in my whole (long) life!

1. Once per trip
2. At the shop
3. Dinner
4. Generally no.
5. One of the better places was in Reutte, Austria. The worst were in London (out of business now) and Alcalá de Henares, Spain.

I do like gyros and souvlaki. Best souvlaki I had was in Glyfada, Greece from a stall on a plaza.

That may be more of a German thing, considering the immigration from Turkey. I've never had the bravery to try kababs in Europe.

In Spain at least, kebab shops do not have a good reputation with locals, they're more seen as low quality cheap food mainly catering to foreigners. I guess in Spain we have more higher quality "fast foods" options to choose for local tastes, like tapas bars, food markets, pinchos, churros, Jamon shops, bocadillos etc.

1. Only in Germany (or Turkey) only once per trip now.
2. Standing at the Imbiss or take it back to our residence.
3. Afternoon meal
4. I don’t understand this question 😂
5. We lived in northern Germany for 6 months in 1990 with our teenaged son. He could have eaten a doner kebab every day from the corner stand near our apartment. We loved them too and have one every time we return to Germany but none are quite as good as our corner imbiss/stand near the university in Bielefeld.

I prefer to eat local

So, follow some locals and eat what they eat. Odds are that will include Kebab and burgers and fried chicken and pizza.

1) It varies with the destination. Once in France (2017), more than once in Germany, often in Bulgaria (2015, in restaurants; limited food options there) and Greece (1995 and earlier), etc. I usually go with chicken if it's available.

2) Either at the shop or back at hotel. Rather messy for picnicking.

3) Lunch or dinner. Way too much food for me as a snack

5) My best-value meal in Norway last year was a combo chicken/lamb kebab (their term--the meat was sliced and stuffed in pita) from a carry-out place near my Oslo hotel.

I, too, am leery of the meat quality at a lot of the places I see. I'd rather get a kebab in a restaurant than at a cheap stand.

I usually go with chicken if it's available.

Me too - often looks more like quality meaty chunks on the spit than the lamb/beef.

I prefer to eat local

The doner kebab: The champion of German street food

"many believe that the döner kebab was actually first created in Berlin by a Turkish guest worker named Kadir Nurman in 1972."

I'd argue that if it was created in Berlin in the early 1970's, then it's at least as European as chocolate.

And the award for worst-named Doner Shop in all of Europe goes to:

DIE DÖNERIA in Vienna.

It is said that the Doner Kebab, prepared on a vertical rotisserie and served in bread with some salad/vegetables and yoghurt, was invented in Berlin. I can't say whether it's true. But it doesn't matter because this Fast Food is now popular all over Germany and sold on evry corner :-) It is not always of high quality. But it is more tasty and of better quality when it is prepared in the districts where many people from Türkiye settled. And with that Durum, Lahmacun or Baklava became part of the every day German cuisine as well.

https://www.visitberlin.de/en/doner-kebab

I like all of that very much, as well as the Levantine cuisine with Falafel etc. but what I can cook myself, I cook myself. It's of course different but at least organic. If I absolutely have to have a real Doner Kebab from the store then I buy it in Munich near the central station where oriental life is at home.

I prefer to eat local

Then you would be surprised what most Bavarians eat every day :-) Certainly not what is sold in a beer hall.

These are often old traditional dishes with lots of meat because back then people worked hard and fatty meat was important. But :-) It was mostly only served on Sunday lunchtime after going to church. Firstly because meat was something very special and secondly because they simply couldn't afford to eat it more often.

Of course German or Bavarian food (that's a big difference) is also eaten by the Germans and not just for lunch anymore. But not all the time and if you want to eat local, then the Turkish Doner is just as important as Italian Pasta, Japanese Sushi or Asian Rice Pans. Due to immigration the food culture in Germany has changed extremely and that is really 'eating local' then.

Well of course this is not true for all European countries :-)

I believe the best doner I ever had was in some random place in Vienna that I walked in late one evening from some hotel I was staying at that was even more randomly placed (and I probably couldn’t find the name/location of the hotel, much less the restaurant). I remember thinking as I ducked in there that this wasn’t going to be much, but I needed something for dinner . . . But as they brought me my doner and fries, I could taste that it was quality ingredients prepared with care. Simply and very well.

Oh and one thing that cracks me up in my husband’s hometown of Turin: most of the Kebab shops seem to be combinations — you see neon signs all over the place “Kebab/Cinese” (Chinese) - that always makes me laugh for some reason

The best doner I have had was at at a doner place on the street in Istanbul - I almost wept because it was so good. Nothing since then has compared so I generally do not look for them on my travels.

q1 once or twice a trip often, if passing through Germany.

q1a occasionally in England

q1b don't know what durum is. Thought it was a kind of wheat. Always doner or even Döner.

q2 at the shop

q2b take it home in England

q3 dinner

q4 kebab

q4b often a box of kebab meat with tzatziki sauce in a tub

q4A see above

q 5 usually in Germany use a kebab shop or Imbiss; rarely do that in England. In England usually get the kebab meat at a chippie - fish and chips for me and some kebab meat for my wife who doesn't eat fish. She nicks some of my chips (salt no vinegar on the chips so she can nick some). I nick some of the kebab meat. Just a few times a year.

I would suggest that in Germany kebab IS as local as it gets.

don't know what durum is. Thought it was a kind of wheat. Always doner
or even Döner.

Wrapped in flatbread burrito style. My daughter and I tend to favor those, my wife the döner on bread. IMO the flatbread wrap is usually better, but when the bread is great there is no beating it. When that happens we beg my wife for bites :)

Also! You are the first to report ordering the Doner box option. I've never but need to branch out.

Every Thursday night in Madrid (ok, maybe early Friday morning...), at one of the places on Pelayo. The Box, with fries.

Thursday at 10pm is the end of the work week for much of my friend group in Madrid (teachers in the Official Language Schools), and after class, it's straight to the bars (but not Spanish neighborhood/tapas bars—rather bars with just drinks). Everybody says that this week will be different—this week will not end with kebap. And every Thursday there we are, a tad wobbly under those violent fluorescent lights. Always takeaway, and we go our separate ways from there, to pig out on our own.

It's no coincidence that, whether from the US or elsewhere in Europe, I always plan to get to Madrid by mid-day on Thursday. (Not for the kebap, specifically, but for the whole of the social tradition.)

Love it Scudder! I'm way past in the late night post drinking kebab, but it is a time honored tradition to be sure.

I wonder how many married couples met at 2am at a kabob shop? :)

Kebabs Rule.....wish I could find a good one here in the US.

In Europe, at least once a week. Such a great alternative to a burger, pizza or a deli sandwich.

Also, I assume all those folks ahead of me in line without a backpack are locals. The same ones who fill McDonalds, Burger King, etc.

In Zagreb, my a years ago, we were walking back to our hotel at night. Maybe it was 10 P.M., I’m not certain, but a kebab place was closing for the night. The meat on the doner spindle was almost gone, and they clearly weren’t going to try and keep it for the next day. They were offering free food, meat in a pita, just to get rid of it and shut down for the night.

My husband, seldom one to pass up a deal, got one. Another patron, maybe a local resident, maybe not, scooped his up and walked off, munching, and snickering out loud, “Gratis! Heh, heh, Gratis!”

@Hank

In Germany, and to some extent, also Austria:

Döner: all the time, any time, in a Kebap (stuffed into a fresh baked bread pocket) or as Dürüm (flour wrap). I've had enough to know how obvious the meat and bread are prepared, especially if fresh crunchy-soft Turkish bread is baked in-house. Once in awhile, I'll have a Dönerbox with fries; sometimes, I'll gorge on a larger Dönerteller plate with rice and salad. I'll have Döner in 1 form or another about three times per week, usually as dinner; frequency also depends strongly on late-night availability and proximity to my stay.

The following are only a handful of many places I've frequented and/or try to return when I'm back in town; your kilometrage may vary.

Berlin:

• Lokanta, in the Westend
• Hisar, in Schöneberg next to Yorckstrasse S+U Bhf
• Rosenthaler Grill & Schlemmerbuffet, at Rosenthaler Platz in Mitte

Frankfurt am Main:

• Merkez, near Hauptbahnhof; but over the past few years, I've been looking for options.
• This June, will try at least 1 of Köylü, Tonbul, a couple of grilled fish "Imbiss" joints
• Special mention, Meral's Imbiss: a boat on the Main river serving up Istanbul style fresh fried- or grilled-fish in a flour wrap. Approved and tested with a great German friend, Ö, who was born in Istanbul

Köln / Cologne:

• Oruç, in Kwartier Latäng (Latin Quarter)
• Kebapland, in Ehrenfeld
• Mangal, near Hansaring S-Bhf

Heidelberg:

• Gino's, on Hauptstrasse; a spot still operating from the time when I lived there over 20 years ago.

Wien / Vienna:

• Ferhat, in the 10th district; always a queue; more expensive but quality is top with Yaprak (leaf-style) Döner
• Abu Elabed, in the 20th; Damascus-style chicken schwarma by proprietors who escaped Syrian civil war
• Kebap Side, in the 5th; got to know the owners during my 4-week stay in the 6th district.

@Mignon:

So true; the best is where the Turkish immigrants are, especially around München Hbf.

@Mardee:

As you've pointed out and my friend Ö has often reminded me, I gotta get to Istanbul.

Didn’t know that kebabs were German. The best one we have had was in Berlin. It was a big store that sold 2 whole vertical meat “rolls” every day. It was across the street from our hostel and we ate there 4 times in a week. Yum! We have one or two kebabs on every European trip for lunch or dinner. Miss them at home since they aren’t available in US except in large cities.

Kebobs are now embedded in German lunch culture.
They are ubiquitous with curry wurst or bratwurst.
I never have these in a restaurant, it's a street cart food as far as I am concerned.
The best ones I have enjoyed have been either in Berlin or in Turkey. I have also had some pretty good ones in Frankfurt and Hanau.
It's not comical, but actually rather sad that many senior Germans were extremely vocal about their loathing for "den Türken". I remember my grandmother, an otherwise wonderful woman, complaining about the presence of den Türken in Berlin. At the time I was really too young to understand her complaint. Now all these years later I still don't get it but at least now I understand that the sentiment was not uncommon.

1) Yes, but not in Italy. Doner.

2) Last one was in the rental car hanging over a massive square of wax paper. But picking up at the shop and walking is fine with me (if I'm in a place where walking with food is appropriate).

3) Lunch or Dinner... I can barely finish a cheap one (the cheap ones seem like they're always larger) for a meal, let alone a snack.

4) The establishments I've had kebab at have not been what I'd think of as ideal for a salad bowl.

4A) N/A

5) haha, I love this. All I can say is that one late night in the Cotswolds we cackled like fiends (after my blood sugar plummeted to the point of dizziness and loathing the universe) as we watched the fellas at a chip shop put an absurd amount of chicken into a pita. We made the mistake of ordering fish and chips as well. I can't remember being that hungry and we could not eat half of it between the two of us.