Brett
Dönerstag
A quest turned blog to identify and document the best Kebap in the city
Dönerstag covered Berlin’s expansive and ever-evolving Döner landscape
Dönerstag was a blog on which I would release a review of a different Kebap every Thursday (Donnerstag in German, hence Dönerstag). I started Dönerstag shortly after arriving in Berlin and finding that there was a lack of up-to-date information about which Kebap in the city were most worth eating.
Dönerstag inexplicably garnered a good deal of media attention and a small but loyal following of around 1000 people on Instagram. The site still exists, though I no longer post, and can be found here.
I sought mentorship from the Berlin food scene’s foremost expert
Early on, I blindly contacted Per of Berlin Food Stories for a bit of support on the project. Throughout Dönerstag’s brief existence, Per generously contributed his extensive knowledge of the local Kebap scene, leading to more in-depth coverage of many of the hottest spots around town, and to my knowing far more about Döner Kebap that one arguably should.
My approach was casual and unhurried, yet deliberate
I developed a ranking system based on the individual components of a Kebap: bread, fix-ins, sauces, and, most importantly, meat. Other considerations included what aspects of the Kebap, if any, were prepared in-house and whether the shop was doing anything novel.
I created all branding, marketing materials, and content myself and chose to source recommendations through Instagram and Facebook, with the hope that it would lead to increased engagement and loyalty, which it did to a limited extent.
I silently shuttered the blog after burning out on Kebap
After several months of eating 2-4 Kebap a week, the COVID pandemic struck, allowing me to hang up my bib for good. The novelty vanished, leaving in the void it once occupied a mild sense of disgust at what once was (see 2-4 Kebap a week) and a clearer preference for the new generation of Berliner Döner, defined by self-stacked Dönerspieße and lighter, less-cloying sauces. I quietly shut down the blog with a penultimate post: The Ultimate Guide to Eating Döner in Berlin, a now-largely-outdated resource on all things Berliner Kebap.
Recently, I have come back around to the standard Berlin Kebap and seek one out very occasionally (maybe 2-3 times a year). It should be noted, however, that Berlin’s Döner scene has gone through a significant evolution since I created Dönerstag and that high-quality Döner made with love are becoming increasingly abundant in Berlin!
