If you don't know what a doner or a dürüm is. Don't worry fam, neither did we- till last night at least. So, to give you a basic introduction into what we're going to be talking about,
- A doner is, essentially, a giant meat kebab which is sliced off into pieces and then stuffed into a pocket of bread-type thing.
- A dürüm is, fundamentally, a fancy way of saying shawarma.
Anyhow, getting back to the review. Doner and Dürüm is a restaurant in Thimbirigasyaya whose restaurant serves exactly what they state on their board. Albeit new, they're already pretty popular so, we decided to get on the bandwagon and see how it was.
Ambience
The ambience at Doner and Dürüm mainly comprises of dimmed out lighting, matte black tables, red lampshades, air conditioning and a solid playlist. We found out that they're pretty popular not through word of mouth but simply by the sheer amount of customers they had on a Wednesday night.
They had a whole bunch of customers coming in at various intervals and even when the number of people coming in gets reduced, hordes of delivery guys came streaming in. Nonetheless, due to the lack of space in the restaurant itself, we opted to get our food to go.
The Food
The ordering process is pretty straight forward so, here's what we went with – Doner with Lamb and Mayo (Rs. 950), Thai Chicken Durum (Rs. 650), Classic Chicken Burger (Rs. 600) and a Rice Pack with Chicken(Rs. 450).
Starting with the Chicken Burger. The bun was beautifully fresh with a slight sweetness running through it. Sandwiched in between there was a generous amount of crunchy veggies and a thick piece of slightly charred chicken. They hadn't overdosed on the sauce so you could taste the meaty flavours, boosted by the charcoal bits stuck on it.
This is the Thai Chicken Durum. The wrap had just the right thickness to hold everything together while the inside was filled with a concoction of deliciously marinated pieces of chicken, veggies, mayo and ketchup. This wasn't very spicy. While you could get undertones of spice running through, it was a bit sweet, which is exactly what thai chicken tastes like.
I'm really sorry about this picture, it's perfectly horrendous but I really did try to get a nice shot. Nevertheless, bear with us for now and hopefully get through it together. Packed to the brim with a whole load of fresh veggies and rich as hell lamb, it was the bomb.
Not only was it giant in size, but, it was also massive in terms of flavour. From the slight sour kicks of the curd to the punches of spice from the marinated lamb, it's one filling snack. You would be full after like three, four bites, but don't give up. You'll regret it later.
This was our absolute favourite part of our meal here. The Rice. So, to break it down, the salad was just plain cut up veggies and the chicken tasted like it had been cooking for days. But, what completely blew us away was the rice. WOW! What essentially looks like very bland, sad looking rice was moist and smelt like a dream. It was cooked to perfection, smelt like the best kind of biriyani you can think of and seasoned quite well.
While it gave space for you to enjoy the chicken, it made sure to make a stand as a dish of its own. Basically, what we're trying to get at here is, GET IT!
As for sides, we got a Cigar Borek (Rs. 420). Stuffed with just lamb, this was a dream come true. It was crunchy almost an hour and a half after it was made. If that doesn't deserve a hat's off, what does?
Service
Here's where things get slightly iffy. Our food took over 45 minutes to arrive, simply because of the massive crowd they had, Fortunately, we weren't starving when we arrived and the ambience and music really helped with the waiting process. But, we can't really overlook the fact that it's still 45 minutes.
Apart from that, the staff was super nice with everything. From explaining what the food is to recommending what to get. Still, if you're starving, maybe order it through delivery, it just might arrive faster than getting your food when you're physically there.
Conclusion
To conclude, we absolutely liked it. The food was fantastic, the staff was accommodating and very nice and the ambience was perfectly chilled out. The only reason we didn't give it a 5 was because of the waiting time. Regardless, we definitely see ourselves going back and we recommend you do too!
