Cycle 3 – Item 320

20 (Tue) November 2012

Turkish Lamb Doner Kebab Wrap

2.5

from Ankara Picnic

at home

-Oksu, Seongdong, Seoul, Republic of Korea-

solo

Project 30/30/30: 20 of 45 (see also 45/45/45)

Throughout this November, I am challenging myself to eat 30 dishes from 30 countries over the course of 30 consecutive days.

Turkey is the 20th country.

Ankara Picnic is a Turkish restaurant.  Specializes in doner kebab.  Been around for at least five years or so, one of the first indoor kebab establishments in Itaewon.  The menu is simple: chicken for 4,000 won, lamb for 5,000 won, and mixed for 6,000 won.  The wraps are made to order, consisting of what would appear to be a Mexican tortilla that’s lightly toasted on the kebab grill, filled with a choice of meat sliced from one of the rotating spits, topped with veggies and condiments, spicy or non.

I can’t recall what their fare tasted like previously, but the wrap that I tried tonight seemed to suggest some sort of mainstream moderation to the food in the intervening years.  The combination of flavors -including the flame-broiled meat, which didn’t exhibit much lamb character, the lettuce-onion-tomato-pickle medley, and the white dressing that tasted more like mayo than yogurt – left the distinct impression of a Burger King Whopper, which isn’t that bad per se, but not what I’m looking for in Turkish kebab.

One thing about GMTD is that it provides precise perspective on my dining habits, which is sometimes surprising.  For example, the record shows that this evening will represent only the 3rd time in the past 3 years that I’ve had a kebab wrap for dinner, even though it’s one of my favorite things.  If nothing else, apparently, this project is forcing me to seek out the foods that I hadn’t even realized that I’d been missing.

(See also GLOBAL FOOD GLOSSARY)

(See also RESTAURANTS IN KOREA)

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