How to Properly Eat a Döner Kebab

Here’s the scenario: You’re walking around Munich, it’s late. You’ve been dancing/clubbing/drinking/partying all night. And you’re starving. You haven’t eaten since dinner! You don’t have any food in your hotel room, why would you? You’re thinking, “What do Germans do at a time like this?” They go to the nearest döner kebab stand.

Scenario number two: You’ve been walking around all day enjoying the beautiful Munich weather. You’re hungry and you want something fast and delicious. Go to a restaurant? No. Eat a döner kebab? Yes.

Döner kebabs are a delight from Turkey that will tickle your taste buds and satisfy your hunger. You’ll notice that they are everywhere. In a nutshell, lamb (sometimes chicken) is roasted on an enormous skewer and shaved off by the cook. It is served in a bun-like pita, or can be served “dürum”, which means it’s wrapped like a burrito in a flour tortilla. Then it’s topped with lettuce, tomato, onion and tzatsiki sauce. You can ask for it to be “mit scharf”, which means “with heat”, and they’ll add some hot paprika flakes. You can also ask for “mit käse” (pronnounces “kayseh”) for a few wedges of feta cheese.

So what do you do? First, go to any döner kebab stand. They’re all over the place! One of my favorite stands is the Mama’s Kebap Haus at the Münchener Freiheit stop on the U3/U6 U-bahn.

Second, wait in line. Then a Turkish man behind the counter will ask for what you like, say “Döner Kebab” (pronnounced “donor”) or add the word “Dürum” (pronnounced “doorum”) before it, for your burrito like wrap. For the most part, they will speak English, if not you can easily point to what you like through the glass displays. You’ll see a few bowls in front of you in line, these are filled with different types of paprika flakes and spices. So be careful! They can be hot. Hot döners can be good, but if it’s too hot, you won’t be able to enjoy the flavor.

Last, enjoy! You can either sit inside, or choose one of the tables outside, it’s all self-seating.

These general guidelines will work at almost all döner kebab stands and it’ll cost you about 600 calories…but so incredibly worth it. My boyfriend will sometimes eat two in a row!

But wait! What if you don’t feel like eating meat shaved off a stick? Opt for the falafel kebab. You can still top it off with all of the same goodies and it’s also very yummy.