Written by Mark Scott
Are you on the way home from a night on the town and looking for a late-night meal? Are you a broke college student, scraping money together to take that trip to Amsterdam? Have you been craving Chipotle since the day you left home? Well, worry no more my friend, I give to the doner kebab.
Though it may not be Chipotle, it’s the next best thing, Mediterranean Chipotle. What is a doner kebab? A doner kebab is a burrito-like dish, which is made up of shaved chicken, cabbage, tomatoes, red onion, lettuce, and french fries. It’s all topped off with a spicy kebab sauce and yogurt. I know the fact that yogurt is mixed in there sounds weird, but trust me they are incredible. All these ingredients are wrapped together inside a flatbread and tin foil, which is then thrown on the grill to be toasted.
Before studying abroad here in Florence, I had never seen or even heard of a doner kebab. Over the 2 months I have been in Florence, I have come to find there is a kebab shop just a stone’s throw from anywhere inside of the city center. The menus of these shops are all almost the same, which is generally the case for the price as well. So what’s the difference between them? What makes a good kebab a good kebab?
What it boils down to is how it is made, both before and during. Was the chicken shaved right off the rotisserie? Are the fries fresh out of the fryer? How long ago were the vegetables sliced? These are all important questions a kebab consumer must ponder before deciding on which shop to eat at.
Many kebab shops will slice the meat in advance and keep it heated in a pan. Others will fry multiple batches of fries way in advance out of convenience, or use vegetables that come pre sliced and in bags. If you see any of this behavior from a kebab shop, save your 5 euros and run. To make a good kebab, the best kebab you might say, ingredients must be fresh. The chicken must be freshly shaved, the vegetables crisp, and the fries just out of the fryer. This is what makes a good kebab, a good kebab.
The other fun and interesting aspect of doner kebab shops is the relationship you build with the shop owner if you are a regular at the shop. These guys are busting their hump working 6, maybe even 7 days a week till 4 in the morning just to provide for their families. The overwhelming majority of them are very welcoming, and chatting with customers makes their work easier and more enjoyable.
Whether you are studying here in Florence or even just visiting, make your way to a doner kebab shop, the right one, that is, you won’t regret it.