One of the issues is that not all 'elephants's legs' are the same. Here you often see a sign outside the store showing the tastier and more appealing version where the spit contents are made up of individual pieces of layered, filleted, marinated lamb, that is to say identifiable pieces of meat. Then you go inside and are presented with a spit of mechanically recovered meat with the consistency of bratwurst mentioned above.

could not agree more. Often, the product inside has not much to do with the one on the board outside. And the widespread idea to use chicken just in order to please the anti-lamb crowd is horrible.

i like alibaba all over ZH

"döner kebap" does NOT exist and/or your "turkish" friends do not know turkish

1. "döner" "sth that turns around" (one-to-one translation is difficult as turkish grammer is completely different to european languages' grammers)
2. noone in turkey uses word "döner kebap". try asking for one in turkey, and you will be laughed at
3. kebap means "any food that has been roasted, fried, broiled on a spit" (official translation http://www.tdk.gov.tr/index.php?opti...35572.68600192)

My personal favourite: "Memo" at Lindenplatz (near Altstetten train station). It's directly opposite the tram lines, on the same side as the fruit shop and tobacco store.

They toast the bread, only have one kind of meat on the 2 skewers and have such a high turnover that everything is super fresh. Plus, it's massive and they charge 9.-, so it's a good deal.

Highly recommended!!!

Thanks a lot!

aaaaHA `! This is why I did not find the expression on menus in Istanbul. An aunt of me whose major language was Hungarian however told me that Turkish to her was the easiest foreign language she ever encountered

Who gives a toss? The thread is about the best doner kebab and the accepted terminology of it...not a language course on the technicalities of Turkish linguistics.

well, the dude that invented the dish in berlin (and died recently, rip) was turkish. or who did come up with that name? anyway, will try lindenplatz next days...

After seeing Russell Brand last night grabbed a donner from the place at the Hauptbahnhof next to platform 18, I'd only had 2 beers and it still tasted pretty good.

well, if you insist (as some others do) that "doner kebab" is a separate dish from "döner", then I can only say that "döner" is a dish I like very much and "doner kebab" is something I don't enjoy. The only decent place in CH I found later to be eatable is Egemarkt in Josephstrasse and some other versions are soo terrible I could sometimes not even finish it.

i insist on nothing, only that its a turkish word combination that in germany was or is written döner kebap. the döner as we know it invented in berlin. the lad was turkish.

You are just as likely to find 'kebab' on the menu in India. Meat cooked on a stick. Not sure of the origin of the work there though?

according to wiki indian food entry, north indian food is based on/highly influenced by turkish food. one can find may turkish names among indian food, e.g. kiyma (minced meet), peynir (cheese). not sure how they are exactly spelled in indian, but just sound very similar.

on the other hand, I think kebap/kebab word is of arabic origin

well, the thing is that in my opinion keeping the name fairly similar and adding some sauces and different salad, putting bad meat instead of good in my opinion does not count for "innovation", but variation

fyi, doner as prepard today originated in bursa in 19th century in Bursa. it existed also before but was horizontal, not vertical...

I can't believe how many people have posted over kebabs, I just felt I had to give my input about 1001 kebabs as someone who lives in the Niederdorf. They're average but they are open until ridiculous o'clock every night. Anything looks good at 3am, that's how they get their business :P

With so much great information on where these tasty treats originate, I think we all agree on two things: 1) kebab is indeed tasty and 2) that Zurich has many options for indulgence.

Allow me to share how I, and perhaps others, feel about the subject:

Two amazing places for kebap which are not strictly doner kebaps.
1) its a takeaway shop next to Piranha bar in Langstrasse. its located outside this bar. If u are standing facing the bar then to the righthand corner outside. Fantasctic chicken kebap. They actually grill the chicken in skewers and then use that for the kebap. They have a nice array of salads, pastes, fries and interesting sauces. For veggies, the falafel is also superb

2) Its next to the Cablecom Office in Zurich HB. Next to this takeaway shop is a japanese tea shop which says "chai to go". next to that shop. the lamb minced meat kebap, chicken (non Shawarma) kebap and the mixed meat kebaps are awesome. They marinate the meat/minced meat in lovely sauces which give a fantastic flavour and taste when they fry/roast it

So if u are looking for a variety, different from regular doner, give these 2 places a go. And the best part is that these places are 1-1.5 CHF cheaper than New point joints, but offer more quantity and better variety

PS: sorry I don't have the addresses of these palces but the location should be easy to find based on what I mentioned.

I suspect it's more likely that both Indian and Turkish cuisines and vocabulary were influenced by those of the Persians.

EDIT: A quick glance in a Persian dictionary confirms that both examples you gave are, indeed, Persian words.

EDIT2: and here, from an utterly unbiased source: http://iranian.com/main/blog/ariana-...-euronews.html

depends. peynir is indeed of persian origin. kiyma is turkish. comes from the verb "kiy", and as a rule turkish does not take on verbs from other languages.

p.s. I am not sure about the blogs quality, as "kebab" does not sound (and according to the sources I checked) is not persian, but arabic

p.p.s. it is funny how for example biryani is also made in Bosnia (birijan), but not in Turkey that is geographically in between