Climbing Berlin's Food Wall can give you a Doner.

A shawarma treasure hunt

 From the early days of Arabian Nights and Arabian Delites in V.V and Def Col, I’d leased my stomach to the spicy shawarma. Then came along Alaturka in Select Citywalk with a juicier, pricier doner. If you got the rewrap of the wrap wrong, which I often did, it would leak onto your hands and make quite a mess that added to the ritual – licking up, in a hand-to-mouth Desi way.

Before making it to Berlin, I was dead sure my first meal would be the city’s mainstay – a Turkish shawarma. At the front desk, the Dutchman directed me to the hipster area -  with a lot-of-vegan joints. (Indian = Vegetarian assumption possibly).

After being blown by the East side gallery, I backtracked to Simon Dach strasse – "the alternative part of town". By now, I’d seen plenty of shawarma joints but I was in a Simon says mode. Over the bridge, right followed by a left, and there I was, on the street named after the Prussian poet.

When you see the one, you know it. And there I was, in front of the shawarma joint, that would be the first of many, over the next six days. There was outdoor seating, which clinched it, and made me go indoors to place my order.

Look at those tomatoes on top. And the juice run down

Cash only it was, as it often is in third world Berlin. Demonetisation beckons, perhaps?  What caught my eye, as I placed my order, was the tomatoes perched on top of the chicken-stashed rotisserie. Day in, day out those tomatoes were being juiced, slowly, naturally; and seeping right through that chicken mound.

As I ordered, somewhat hurriedly, and typically Indian and out of line, I wanted to know how long it would take. That shawarma was already talking to me. There was beer too, as often is in Berlin, unless it’s an ice cream parlour.

It's a wrap.

It didn’t take long before my first shawarma in Berlin and me were united. It was wrapped tight, in this gleaming silver foil – I had gone for the roll instead of the sandwich; could tell, the locals prefer the sandwich while the Turks and Asian immigrants roll with it.

In front of me was a wasted roll with fidgety sparrows eating like, what else, but birds.

@donerdach11 was a success. I informed the maker. He asked me to follow them on Instagram. Instead I took a pic of their Insta handle.

Looks like tomatoes got to his t-shirt too

Insta Doner

 None of the shawarmas that followed came with the tomato perch. None had the finesse or poetry of the one at Simon Dach’s. That day, I walked to the next block and wrapped my shawarma adventure with a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream cup from a mom and pop store.

What did I miss? Yogi Snack – that had Tinda Masala; at 6.40 euros the most expensive thing on the menu. Yeah, this place was alternative alright.

 

Love me Tinda