I ate: Döner at Donnies

THIS. My favourite thing in Amsterdam so far, food-wise. I’ve Deliveroo-ed Donnies’ döners to my house probably five times already, but only  got to try it at the restaurant last night. Pictured above is the “Curry” döner with their plant-based veggie (not-) “chicken”, which the restaurant confirmed to me (in person and on Facebook) is entirely vegan. It is undoubtedly one of the best non-chicken pieces I’ve tasted so far, and they cook it with just the right amount of crisp and chewy-ness that you may be missing from your pre-vegan days. But now you can get that cruelty-free style. YES.

Donnies Döner @ Gerard Douplein 10HS, De Pijp

Located in the trendy De Pijp area, the restaurant itself has beautiful interior, very hip, cosy, and looking quite new. There are board games that you can take to play on the dinner tables at the back, with a few “bar counter top” and smaller coffee tables for a more casual sit-down, and the staff picks a mixture of chilled and upbeat songs to boost the ambience – basically, it’s a great vibe.

Their menu offers a range of bases to choose from, and of the 5 available, 3 are vegan – the “Spicy Chilli” (my favourite – the one at the forefront in the photo below), the “Curry” and the “Smokey Ratatouille”. The “Classic” has garlic sauce which the restaurant informed me was not vegan, and the other option, the “Pumpkin Goat” has goat’s cheese, so no thank you.

You then choose whether you want a small version, which is the pita bread, or the larger size, being the Turkish bread. I’ve only tried the Turkish bread because hashtag-always-hungry, and it is delicious – I am a fan of crispy bread though so if you prefer something softer and easier to chew, the pita might be more your style. Then, to make it cruelty-free and vegan, make sure you ask for the “No Meat” version which is the plant-based “chicken” (I still always feel weird typing up meaty words). We also got the chips, which are chunky and juicy, and asked them to hold the mayo.

The Turkish Bread vegan version costs EUR 12.50 each, the smaller pita costs EUR 9 (it costs an extra EUR 1.50 from the normal price to get the No Meat version), and the fries are EUR 3.50 – obviously more expensive than your usual food truck kebab, but these are healthier, cruelty-free and honestly a hundred times more delicious. I’d recommend going to the restaurant to try these, as you really feel you get your money’s worth when enjoying these in the fun, laid-back atmosphere of Donnies. Also the döners are just beautifully presented at the restaurant and they give you a mini fork and everything. Otherwise, order them on Deliveroo and ennnnjoy.

Big fan. Hungry again.