Donair.org

You're out on the town, having a few drinks with some good friends. Things are starting to close down, it's around 2:30 in the morning. You have the munchies. Suddenly, it hits you. You want a donair. A real, honest-to-goodness Halifax Donair. Tomatoes, onions, strip after strip of meat cut right from the spit as it turns... what could be better?

Donair Recipes

Donair Recipes

Donair "Loaf"

This makes a nice loaf of Donair meat.

1 teaspoon each of

1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper

1 pound of medium or lean - not extra lean! - ground beef

Directions

At this point you have some pretty awesome donair meat! Just add a fried pita and some donair sauce and you're golden!

Donair Recipes

Donair Sauce Recipe #1

This makes a nice thick donair sauce - very much like what you'd get in Halifax.

Ingredients:

To make:

Donair Links

Donair Links

In the Moment

http://flash-in-the-moment.blogspot.com/2009/02/donairs.html

My husband and I came to Mississauga 4-1/2 years ago and began our donair history, geography and home economics education.

The GTA (Greater Toronto Area) is a melting pot of every culture so we assumed that there would be donair shops here and were surprised to find none.

Donair Links

Queen of Donairs

http://www.saveyourfork.com/2006/09/05/queen-of-donairs/

A couple of weeks ago, someone posted to the Toronto LiveJournal community, asking about where to get Nova Scotia style donairs. After we collectively determined that there is no place in Toronto to get this much-loved street food, I fessed up and admitted that I have a copy of the original recipe created and marketed by the chain King of Donairs. And despite encouragement to start my own donair stand here in Toronto, I’d still rather just make the things at home.

Donair Links

The View from in Here

http://viewfrominhere.blogspot.com/2006/03/cbc-and-donairs-two-of-my-favourite.html

Now, for those not from Queen's or Halifax, you may wonder, what's a donair? As a quick overview, it's slices of this meat concoction shaved off a stick (beef, bread crumbs, spices), seared, topped with tomatoes, onions, donair sweet sauce (which makes or breaks the donair, personally) and all wrapped in a pita WAY too small for the amount it has to hold. Consequently, eating it is a mess, but is it oh so delicious (especially after a night of drinking)!

Donair Links

Donair Culture on Facebook

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=25688336242

Basic Info

Name: Donair culture Category: Common Interest - Religion & Spirituality Description: Donairs and the lifestyle around them Privacy Type: Open: All content is public.

Donair Links

The Wired 96.3 BIG Show Blog

http://www.wired963.com/blog/mornings/?p=20

Alright, today on the show we talked about donairs. For some reason I can’t figure out, the donair doesn’t exist in Saskatchewan. I’ve eaten Donairs in Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, and the home of the best Donair joint on the planet….Nova Scotia.

Donair Links

Zach's Famous Donair Emporium

http://www.zachsfamousdonair.com/index.php

In 1995 the first Zachs Famous Donair Restaurant opened in Edmonton, Alberta. This restaurant featured a delicious line of a new product called the "donair" which is made with spiced beef garnished with onions, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, hot peppers and special "donair" sauce served on warmed pita bread. The public responded with overwhelming approval to this exciting new taste. Zachs is a family run business and we consistently strive to create a friendly family atmosphere for our valued customers.

Donair Links

Germans go for doner kebabs - Shawarma outstrips sausages, fries as the country’s No. 1 fast food

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Travel/1176441.html

Germans go for doner kebabs - Shawarma outstrips sausages, fries as the country’s No. 1 fast food By The Associated Press Sat. Apr 10 - 4:53 AM BERLIN — Forget about bratwurst, currywurst and other kinds of sausages — doner kebab, or shawarma, has overtaken traditional German fast food as the country’s favourite snack on the go. First brought to Berlin by Turkish immigrants in the 1970s, the grilled meat snack that comes wrapped in a pita bread with shredded lettuce, tomatoes, onions and different dressings, is now being sold everywhere in Germany from the Baltic Sea to the Bavarian Alps.

Donair Links

DMBLog on Donairs

http://dmblog.com/2008/03/20/donairs/

My favorite place for donairs, (and the best I’ve been able to find in Calgary), is A & A Foods at 1401 – 20 Ave NW. Everything is very fresh, the donair meat is seasoned perfectly and is exceptionally moist. The donairs come in three sizes: small, medium and large. The small size is adequate for most people and is equivalent to what is considered a “large” everywhere else.

Donair Links

Donairs – What those Funky Canadians eat

http://slightlyfunky.com/?p=112

For anyone who has ever watched the Trailer Park Boys, you’ll hear constant references to donairs and the King of Donair. Well I had to do a little research and I discovered an incredibly delicious sandwich/wrap. The sandwich is really a combination of a bastardized donar kebab and a gyro with a very funky sauce. The meat is rather simple to prepare – like a meatloaf.

Donair Links

Beer and News And you will know us by our trail of empties…

http://beerandnews.wordpress.com/2007/08/12/donair-the-breakfast-of-hungover-champions/

A quick story about east coast Donairs.

Donair Links

A Donair Road Trip to Milton, Ontario

http://tyronewarner.com/2010/01/09/trekking-to-milton-for-a-real-donair/

So on a crispy January afternoon, this guy and myself, along with this guy and another guy who doesn't have a blog, piled into the car drove off to scenic Milton, Ontario (I heard it has a Go Train station) to find out if "Halifax Donair and Pizza" are indeed slinging authentic east-coast donairs.

Donair Links

Why do Canadians eat donairs?

http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004823.html

There is a meat dish which in slightly different forms is widely eaten in the Eastern Mediterranean as well, in recent years, in many other countries. (See the Wikipedia articles Döner kebab and ドネル ケバブ.) In the United States, it is usually called gyro(s), from Greek γύρος, sometimes pronounced [dʒaiɹow] according to its spelling, with the 's' taken to be the plural morpheme, sometimes [jiɹos] as in Greek. In Canada, the same dish is almost always known as doner, from Turkish döner, also spelled donair. A few restaurants in Ontario seem to call it gyros, but here in British Columbia, and in my experience in Alberta as well, gyros is virtually never used. This is true even in restaurants run by Greeks. A new place specializing in doner just opened here in Prince George. The owners are Greek,but they use the term donair on their menu and even in the name of their restaurant. I have been wondering for a long time why it is that this dish almost always goes by its Greek name in the United States but by its Turkish name in Canada.

Donair History

Donair History

Donair History

Donairs - in the past - are traditionally either Greek or Turkish in origin, also known as "doners", "gyros", "doner kebabs", "kebabs" and "donners".

The history of the donair goes back far past Halifax, to either Greece or Turkey. For matters of simplicity and convenience, our donair history starts in Halifax.

Wikipedia claims that the modern fast food doner was invented by Mahmut Aygun, a Turkish immigrant in Berlin, in 1971.

Velos Pizza, then located in Bedford, invented the "Halifax" donair in the 1971-1973 area. This "Halifax" donair was characterized by having a very sweet sauce, made from condensed milk, sugar, garlic, and vinegar.

Velos merged / was purchased / etc with King of Donair, thus giving King of Donair claim to being the first to introduce donairs to Canada, which they claim proudly to this day.

Regardless of who brought donairs to Canada, the "Halifax" donair is slowly spreading westward, with many parts of Quebec, Ontario and Alberta serving Halifax donairs due to the high concentration of maritimers who have gone west looking for work.

Donair Pizza from King of Donair

I can't imagine living somewhere that donair pizza wasn't a thing. Yet in parts of Canada you can't get good donair pizza! As my first Year of Donair post, let's take a moment to celebrate some donair pizza.

King of Donair has been making donairs in Canada since 1973 and has often won "best of" awards from The Coast.

I ordered an extra large donair pizza from King of Donair Clayton Park and picked it up about 25 minutes later. It was one of the coldest nights of the year, -16C or so, and I was sure that all of that luscious melted cheese would have started to solidify by the time I got back to somewhere warm.

Even with the cold, KOD hits the donair pizza right out of the park. Just the right level of spice to the donair meat, lots of cheese, onions and tomatoes, and of course plenty of donair sauce.

If you're going to go to any reputable place that does good donair, make sure you pick up some donair egg rolls as well. These are just an intense collection of donair meat wrapped up in an egg roll wrapper and then deep fried - they are typically served with donair sauce for dipping. The crunch of the wrapper adds a nice texture change to the whole experience. Definitely awesome!

That's the first Year of Donair post - look for more tasty donair coming up soon!

2015: The Year of Donair

Here we are a week into 2015, and donair is everywhere. Montreal has a donair shop now, donair is slowly taking over Fort Mac, and even Vancouver has donair on the mind.

Therefore, we're declaring 2015 the Year of Donair, and every week you're going to see something new and donair-y posted here. Look for the first donair delights this week!

Donair Tacos at Pizzatown Sackville

The fine folks from Pizzatown in Sackville, after much poking and prodding by folks on Twitter, announced on Friday past that they were going to produce the mythical donair taco. How could I not go check out an epic event like this?

My only concern was that Pizzatown Sackville likely hadn't ever done tacos of any sort before, and therefore donair tacos were truly a voyage into madness.

Thankfully my fears seem to have been unfounded.

I ordered 3 donair tacos ($3 each), and after a short wait I was presented with a plate filled with taco goodness. They looked - and smelled - amazing. I walked them to one of the tables in the restaurant hoping that these mythical tacos weren't a 6 dressed up as a 9.

Gently prying open a taco so as to not shatter the baked shell, the truth was revealed. Inside was 2 strips of donair meat, red onions, tomatoes, salsa, grated cheese and lettuce. While donair purists everywhere know that lettuce on a donair is an affront to all that's tasty, new foods require an open mind.

Turns out that if you order your donair taco with the meat heated and the rest of the taco cold, it's even better (suggestion from Hanah.) The shell stays soft, all the taco-ness isn't overwhelmed by the donair side of the house and you don't need to worry that a big bite of shell will cause it to suddenly crack and without warning turn your clean shirt into an excuse to buy Spray-n-wash.

The big question remains, however - sour cream or donair sauce? I think the answer really depends on how sauced you want your tacos. The in-house sour cream isn't the extra thick and tangy style, so you can safely load your taco up as much as you like without overwhelming the taste of the donair.

If, however, you don't want your taco completely filled with sauce and want a more authentic donair experience, you can get away with using only a little bit of donair sauce. You don't need a lot to get the taste to come through, and too much sauce leaves things overpowered. Plus, over-saucing can leave a real mess afterwards as it causes the tomatoes, onions and friends to leak out the back side of the shell. Eat it or wear it, however, it's still amazingly tasty.

By now I suspect you're hungry or at least curious - but you're going to have to wait. Pizzatown Sackville is only offering donair tacos on Tuesday night alongside their donair egg rolls. Patience is a virtue.

If a Tuesday night finds me craving both donair and tacos, I know where I'm headed.

Pizzatown Sackville
225 Cobequid Road
902 865-1111
http://www.pizzatown.ca

Donair Eggs Benedict at The Foggy Goggle

I am a firm believer that more people need to interact with the world around them rather than just accepting things as they are. When The Foggy Goggle mentioned on Twitter that they had both Lobster or Arugula Avocado Benny, I was quick to suggest that they do donair eggs benedict as well.

Guess what? they did.

The Foggy Goggle is one of those pubs that everyone needs to visit when they travel to Halifax. Their food is outstanding, comforting, and always has that little twist that makes it memorable. They don't have a deep fryer in the kitchen, which just makes things that much more interesting. They even make their own donair meat on-site, an impressive undertaking.

Ordering the donair benny was a little tricky; they don't make it all the time and instead have it as a special. Their other specials - lobster benny, for example - are all equally as interesting.

The smell that hit me when this plate of nirvana was set in front of me was just wonderful. The taters smelled warm and inviting, the eggs benedict had that gentle hollandaise scent to them - everything just worked together to befriend your nostrils. Nothing overdone, nothing missing, this was a package that had been assembled by an expert.

I've always been impressed with any of the potato dishes the Foggy Goggle cooks up, since they manage to get them right every time and don't use a deep fryer. These spuds are no exception, cooked just the right amount so that they perfectly straddle the line between undercooked and mushy. Perhaps The Foggy Goggle has a potato whisperer on staff?

Another reason to love the Goggle's taters - they don't oversalt them, leaving it up to whoever's devouring the dish to salt the taters as they see fit.

The made-in-house donair meat was near textbook perfect. (unrelated - if someone finds a donair textbook, let me know.) It had a spicy kick to it that most donair doesnt, but it worked very well with the comforting taste of the eggs benedict. Onions and tomatoes were in reasonably equal proportion, just as they should be.

The hollandaise sauce was neither in such short supply that anything was dry and not so prevalent that I was feeling the need to throw the egg a life preserver lest it sink. Hollandaise sauce is really just breakfast donair sauce and if ever that statement was put to the test, this dish may just prove it to be true.

If ever you feel the craving for an early morning donair - this may just be your best option for something awesome.

The Foggy Goggle
1667 Argyle Street
902-444-1414
thefoggygoggle@gmail.com

Some people love donairs even more than we do!

Wow... just wow. I can't say I ever thought I'd see this, but it looks too real not to be true.

Someone has a rather awesome looking donair tattoo!

Thanks to Cailin O'Neil for the photo of her friend's leg. Find her on twitter @CailinONeil.

Donair Sushi. You heard it here first.

I'm going to let this twitter conversation speak for itself:

How cool is that?

Little Known and Well Loved - Burnside Pizzeria

After my Toronto donair experience my return to Halifax left me with a craving.

I decided to take a trip to Burnside Pizzeria, a long time favorite of mine and of many folks in Burnside industrial park. Lots of folks who don't work in the park don't have any idea that this gem of a place even exists, they're only open till 7:30 pm weeknights and 3 pm on Saturday. Not your typical pizza and donair shop.

Things were pretty quiet when I dropped in about 4 pm, usually that's a bad sign for your upcoming donair. The meat will be dried out, or cold, or both.

I ordered a small donair, and it was served open face rather than wrapped as many places do. If you're eating at a table, this is probably easier assuming you get a fork and knife. Worried that I'd get a less-than-stellar donair since this wasn't one of their busy times, I took my first bite.

This donair was a home run hit right out of the park. Perfectly cooked, meat that was just the right level of chewy vs crispy, hot all the way through and juicy without being overly greasy. Every single bite was melt-in-your-mouth donair goodness, the sauce was exactly the right texture, and the onions and tomatoes were fresh and flavorful.

I really did mean to take more photos of this delightful morsel. I guess I enjoyed it too much. These things happen when your donair is that good!

Anyone in Dartmouth who wants an awesome donair should definitely check out Burnside Pizzeria - they'll treat you right.

Burnside Pizzeria
109 Ilsey Avenue,
Suite 12A
Burnside Industrial Park
Dartmouth Nova Scotia
Tel: (902) 468-9338
Fax: (902) 468 5752

The Fuzz Box: Do not pass go, do not collect $200, just go get a donair. Seriously.

For lovers of the Halifax donair, you already know that outside Halifax, there's always a chance you're going to get something that's not quite a donair.

Outside Nova Scotia, that chance increases - a place in Fredricton once served me a donair with sour cream, not donair sauce (what?!) If you leave the Maritimes and ask for a donair, there's really no telling what you're going to get.

However, after a trip to the Fuzz Box, everything has changed.

After reading a few newspaper articles about this place in Toronto called The Fuzz Box, I dropped them a note to get their information for the site, and told them I'd be sure to drop in the next time I was in town.

Less than a week later, I'm on a plane headed to Pearson airport.

Suppertime one evening, I find myself with 2 hungry and eager friends who are both well versed in what a real Halifax donair should be, headed down Danforth St, looking for #1246 - and it's easy to spot. There's a huge Nova Scotia flag on the sign. Marketing, or reality? Only taste will tell.

Neil, the owner, greets everyone who visits with eagerness - you can tell this is a man who loves people and is enjoying what he does. Talking to other folks in the shop, virtually everyone has some sort of maritime connection. One of the other patrons was from Halifax, a couple from New Brunswick, one had come in since their mom had called to say "go get some real Halifax food". Nice.

Neil commented that this was one of the only restaurants in Toronto where the patrons talked to each other, and I think that could be part of the Fuzz Box's magic. It's a very "Halifax" thing (for lack of a better term, I do know this happens all over the Maritimes) to talk to folks waiting for their food, or in line with you. It just isn't done in Toronto.

The three of us ordered a single large donair to split between us, having other foodie obligations to attend later that evening, and sat down to wait.

Here's where the Fuzz Box gets things done a little differently than traditional Halifax donair shops. Firstly, they've defaulted to using a Greek pita which is thicker and stronger than the traditional Lebanese pita. This prevents your donair from falling apart in your hands. For the purists, you can still request the traditional Lebanese pita!

Secondly, there's no meat on a rotating spit.

What?

You heard me. There's no meat on a rotating spit. Neil explained that instead the meat is mixed daily by hand and loaves of it are cooked in the oven. These loaves are then sliced & grilled to order.

Many of you at this point have just stopped reading and may even be thinking that there's no way you can make a good donair without the traditional spit of meat. Please prepare to have your minds opened.

Cooking the meat in loaves and then slicing it for donairs, believe it or not, I think is actually better. Yes, you read that right, better. It does change the consistency to be less cohesive and prone to breaking apart, however we should all remember that you can't eat a 6 inch strip of traditional donair meat without some cutting, biting and making a mess. Neil also told us that having loaves pre-cooked and then grilled when orders are placed lets him serve a more consistent product - which I agree with, more on that later.

When we heard "Orders up!" I could feel my mouth start to water. Moments later we were delivered a pretty awesome looking donair. Perhaps a little smaller than the average Halifax donair, but a very honest looking donair none the less.

Neil has also said that people have come in and said they can't order donairs without tasting a sample of the sauce. They've been given sauce before that just isn't up to Halifax standards. This sauce has the same look and apparent viscosity as anything you'd get in Halifax. Perhaps we have a winner?

We looked our new donair over, unsure as to what we'd find when we unwrapped it... but when we did it was pretty much exactly what you'd expect. Our hopes were getting up at this point - looks like, smells like, served like - would it taste like home too?

When you go to the Fuzz Box - and I know you will if you're in Toronto - before you take your first bite of their donair, close your eyes and imagine a group of 10-12 people just walking in from a very drunken night at , all being a little louder and more obnoxious than they should be. That's the only thing that could make this donair more Halifax.

My first bite was just top shelf. The sauce was perfect. The taste of the meat was perfect. The texture was different, but I wasn't dealing with trying to cut a donair meat tentacle without utensils. Second bite. Perfect. Onions, tomatoes, sauce that would make any Nova Scotian proud, and perfectly spiced beef.

All three of us were kept completely mesmerized, only able to utter phrases like "oh my God.", "so good.", "wow." Every bit of anticipation I had before trying The Fuzz Box was worth it, this donair was the real meal deal, hands down. Every expectation I had for my first Ontario donair experience was met with ease, and then completely blown away by The Fuzz Box's super donair.

We left with a new sense of awe for The Fuzz Box, heading off to visit some other non-donair places that evening. Had some other awesome food, a good evening out with friends.

As is known to happen as evenings wind down, we all started discussing our donair experience. 10 minutes later, we were in the car, headed back to The Fuzz Box. We wanted another one.

Yes, you read that right. The Fuzz Box makes donairs so good that we had to go back and get another one.

Our second visit was to a store that was much quieter, less folks were about this time of evening. With a traditional meat on a spit donair, you'd end up with a very different experience - the meat might be dried out, or not warm enough. Our second donairs (one each!) were identical to the first in taste and texture.

I may add some more details and photos here after I've had a bit more time to digest my Fuzz Box experience. However, I can say without any hesitation that if you want a Halifax donair in Toronto, go see Neil at the Fuzz Box. He's awesome.

The Fuzz Box 1246 Danforth Ave Toronto (416) 769-1432 thefuzzbox.ca

Donair glamour for those that need it

You're headed out on the town, perhaps over to a friend's place, perhaps to Halifax's downtown scene, and you (naturally) need to differentiate yourself from everyone else. Why not throw a little donair into the mix?

Those nails look damn tasty.

How could it get any more tasty than this?

I was reading The Coast yesterday, and came across this photo which made me do a bit of a double take - someone had done their nails as donairs.

Just imagine that for a moment. You could call yourself finger licking good! I'm not sure this would be good for anyone who bites their fingernails, or who's on a diet - it would certainly make me hungry more often than not.

If you ever do your nails this way, I'd love to get some photos of the whole process and the finished result. I can't promise you fame and fortune... unless your nails on donair.org counts!

Need your nails done by a nail superstar? Find @stephaniejohns on Twitter.

Top Ten Nova Scotia Inventions

The Chronicle Herald has a very nice article about the top 10 Nova Scotian inventions on their site.

As you can imagine, one of these inventions is the donair! What's even better is they link directly back to us from the article. Yay local content!

Have a read of their top ten list here.

Are Toronto’s donairs any good? We asked two guys from Sloan to taste test them.

Looks like the donair is making waves in Toronto. The media is getting Halifamous folks to do taste testing!

Karon Lui has penned an article after corralling Patrick Pentland and Gregory Macdonald, musicians with Sloan, into doing some taste testing of Toronto's tastiest wares.

Read the article posted on thegridto.com!

(and we here at donair.org would be happy to have anyone fly us anywhere to taste test donairs. moresauceplease@donair.org!)

donair.org expands into Ontario and beyond!

If you're a Nova Scotian living somewhere else in Canada, and a lover of donairs, then chances are this web site leaves you hungry for a taste of home.

Starting today, we'll be adding donair restaurants from all across Canada and the world as we find out about them.

If you know of somewhere that has amazing, Halifax-style donairs, email us - moresauceplease@donair.org and we'll get it added to the site.

If you're interested in being our donair scout for a particular city or area, let us know! We can't promise you anything more than indigestion, but you know it'll be tasty.

Doinkballs. Really. And they're AMAZING!

Many of you know I've been after Bonehead's BBQ to make Doinkballs for a while now.

This is where the meat wizards live.

Those of you who are not in the know might be hungry to learn that "doink" is "donair + oink". These tasty tidbits are going to be donair meatballs, wrapped in bacon and then smoked. What could be better?

Waiting for my meal... and there's a bucket of Doink Sauce!

I walked in around 6 pm or so, and as requested introduced myself as "That Doinkball Guy". As expected everyone gave me "Oh, you're the doinkball guy" smile. Gotta love it when everyone seems to know you already. While I was waiting, I noticed a truly delightful sight - a bucket of doink sauce. yum!

These will drive your taste buds crazy. Doinkballs waiting to be eaten!

These look SO good.I received my plate of gastronomical delight, paired it with a 500mL Farmer's chocolate milk, and headed on over to a table to sit down and see where my taste buds went. A closer examination of these yields a smell that is both meaty and well spiced, with each doinkball being pinned to a little pita along with some onions and tomatos.

One down

My first bite into one of these was about as close to nirvana as you can get without actually going there yourself. The texture was solidly pleasing, the taste was very donair-esque, yet spicy... a little sharp, but not hot. The bacon flavor got a little lost in all the donair goodness but all in all it was still a mouth miracle. My lips and mouth were left a little tingly afterwards .. but not in the same way as you'd expect from spicy chicken wings. This was more of a "thank you for feeding me that... so much!" tingle.

This is how you define satisfaction.

One of the more surprising parts of my whole Doinkball experience was how these little meat morsels sit in your stomach. They certainly aren't as large as a typical "slider" burger, but I was easily as full after devouring doinkballs as I would have been after taking down a plate of sliders. My guess is that the donair and bacon ganged up on my stomach until it cried mercy, and from there it was all she wrote.

I'm seriously thinking about going back for more doinkballs before they're gone, they are a limited time special item from the wizards of meat at Bonehead's. If you're looking to go check out some yourself, find Bonehead's on Google for all the required info.