Today we experienced the original doner kebab at the original Kebabçi Iskender restaurant in Bursa. The restaurant’s promotional brochure states: “Our kebab has been discovered in 1860s by our grandfather … and earning reputation with its taste, appearance and trustfulness, it has come to modern days.”

By changing the centuries old horizontal brazier into a vertical brazier, grandfather Iskender turned the ancient Turkish lamb chawarma into the popular doner kebab we know today.

The lambs are fed with aromatic plants and especially with thyme, which gives the meat a special and delicious flavour. The dish of roasted lamb’s meat, chopped into slim slivers and covered with melted butter on a bed of pita bread, is served with tomato, mild chillies and a dollop of the most delicious yoghurt.

Yum.

Kebabçi Iskender

Iskender kebab at Kebabçi Iskender - the inventor of doner kebab