The Battle for Kebap Supremacy by Troy Zitzelsberger

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Written and Photographed by Troy Zitzelsberger

Mr. Kebab

This first time I had doner kebab was, oddly enough, in Berlin. The large Turkish immigration brought with it what can be considered a new take on fast food. These swift roll up’s, consisting of either chicken or lamb and various vegetables are a quick, affordable meal. Meat and vegetables, sounds simple enough, but what makes this sustenance unique is the sauce. Either a white yoghurt based sauce or a spicy red sauce (for those that can handle the heat.) To my surprise, there are numerous kebab joints lining the streets of Itaewon. I have taken it upon myself to try each and every one to find out which is truly, the Kebab Raja.

First stop, Mr. Kebab. Lured in one late night after pool league with my Turkish friend to ensure there would be no language barrier when I attempted to order extra meat, I approached the counter reminiscent of times past. After my friend order for me, which I’m glad he did since it led to some authentic soup, I was ready to dine.

Mr. Kebab Kebab

I, being a fan of the spicier things in life, went for the extra hot sauce. My first byte was a clean piece of lamb which, in all honesty, tasted quite similar to the typical kebab joint. Being the gargantuan fan of lamb, I was hoping for something unique. Next I tried the chicken, which was juicy and tender. Then came the vegetables which where fresh and the rice which was plentiful, possibly too plentiful. I am a fan of about 60% meat, 30% veggies, and 10% rice, these ratios where not present on my platter but for the mere price of 8,500 won I couldn’t complain. Now the spicy sauce was the highlight of my meal, it wasn’t as spicy as I usually like but it contained just the proper amount of sweetness to make it a great combination.

Overall, Mr. Kebab was good and I would recommend it, but the Raja is out there. The search continues…

Will the real Mr. Kebap please stand up

Mr. Kebab can be found at exit 9 at the Itaewon stop on the 6 line.

Mr. Kebab

127-2 Itaewon 1(il)-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul

South Korea

070-7758-1997

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Troy Zitzelsberger originally hails from Michigan but has lived in Chicago, New York City, Germany, and now Seoul. He is working as an actor (really, no joke) in Korea and he humbly calls himself, “an unofficial food critic.” You can find out more about Troy here.

If you are interested in contributing to Seouleats.com contact Daniel Gray at seouleats at gmail dot com

About the Author

Daniel

Daniel Gray is a Korean adoptee that returned to Korean in 2005 because he wanted to try and find his birth mother and to learn about Korean culture. He started a restaurant review blog in 2007, www.seouleats.com, that became a local and international hit. He and his blog has been featured in the New York Times, Monocle Magazine, The Kimchi Chronicles, Bizarre Foods, Rudy Maxa, Olive Magazine, Euronews and much more. He now is a partner at O’ngo Food Communications (www.ongofood.com), which is a culinary tourism and consulting company that offers Korean cooking classes and restaurant tours to travelers. Their food tours and cooking classes are ranked as one of the top attractions in Seoul according to tripadvisor.