Have you tasted the Dӧner Kabab at Bosporus?

I live in constant fear of the fact that I might just smack into one of those pillars on Jumeirah Beach Road one day. I can never drive down that strip between the Burj al Arab and the Jumeirah mosque without craning my neck out of the car window to read the restaurant signs.

Jumeirah 1 was the Beverly Hills of Dubai back in the day, and despite the preponderance of cosmetic surgery clinics littered like juice shops down its well-groomed sidewalks, it still holds my fancy even till today. It’s that part of the city that lapped up the beachy sun as Old Dubai faded into traffic-congested oblivion, and as New Dubai decided to prissy up to look like some eclectic mix of Vegas and Houston and Singapore, with a patch of L.A. thrown in for good measure. It’s the newest edge of the old in this city, and the oldest tip of the new. Jumeirah has a distinct character of its own, even though it often feels like that overlooked middle child who misses out on the best bits of media attention because the paparazzi can’t get enough of the Marina.

I think it’s shocking that no major publication has yet covered that new corner Turkish restaurant: Bosporus. Agreed this is no Cavalli and the price tag per head is shamefully under a 100 dirhams, but I’d vote that we give the imported celeb chefs a timeout and turn a spotlight to those crispy shavings of dӧner kabab that I ate for lunch yesterday. I’ve eaten many a dӧner kabab in Dubai over the past month [a consequence of a self-assignment that requires me to sample every dӧner kabab in the city. SUCH an arduous task, but I’m being a real willing trooper about it.], and this was one of the crispiest, most well-marinated mountain of beefy dӧner slivers that I’ve encountered thus far. This was the product of electric meat-shaving precision, with the cook having used a mechanized razor to shear off the brownest, most charred bits of meat, leaving the faintest thread of fatty beef flesh on the underside.

Mom and I pronounced the fatty curls of charred, salty calf meat so juicy and flavourful that they didn’t need any sauce. And then true to our Indian chutney-loving heritage, we promptly proceeded to drown them with squeezes of lemon and droplets of bottled Turkish garlic sauce anyway.

Our second kabab dish was the kağıt kebabi, a ground lamb patty shrouded in an off-white flatbread that closely resembled the delicate Turkish yufka. The patty had been studded through and through with tomatoes, potentially peas and parsley, whole spices, and then bound together with beaten egg. The kabab accompaniments were minimal yet adequate: two thick wedges of tomato with skins punctuated by a hot grill and a pair of vibrant smoky chillies. If you’re the man hoping to impress your date with a bite of grilled chilli, I’d say use her restroom run to knock the seeds out of the peppers before you valiantly toss them on your tongue.

We appreciated all the little touches surrounding our meal: the fresh baked Turkish naan matted with white sesame and black nigella seeds, the cool sour Ayran (salty buttermilk that I would beg you order over an ordinary soda), and the two bottled sauces, one fiery red and the other pungent garlic. I don’t believe they serve the one-and-half foot long naan on the table unless you request for it, a real shame because bread right out of their wood-fired oven is an easy, instant way to win a customer in the first few minutes of a meal. Thankfully, they didn’t charge us for the bread.

By no means should you walk away from this post with the conclusion that Bosporus is the best or most authentic Turkish eatery in town. It’s definitely not the cheapest I’ve had in the city, nor does it have a roll of flattering diner reviews online. But to be fair, I’ve only sampled a grand total of two dishes over a quick lunch, so I’m far from declaring it a success. I’ll be back, because Bosporus has managed to grab my attention. The restaurant has cleverly cordoned off the pavement with hanging plastic sheets and tall floor air conditioners, so that you can sit outside even in the middle of the blistering afternoon heat without being fried to a crisp. The menu had some of my favourite Turkish dishes, Turkish breakfast platters, mezze, pides, lahmacuns and a heap of kababs that deserve to be devoured over multiple dedicated meals. Our royal robe-clad server was shockingly knowledgeable about the menu, proffering juicy bits of information like the fact that the dӧner is marinated in Germany itself before it gets shipped over to Dubai. All are excellent reasons warranting a second trip back to the restaurant. The media may not sail down to Bosporus any time soon but I’d say we don’t wait for the professionals to get there. Try a kabab, a creamy dip, maybe a forkful of cheese kunefe, sip on some Turkish black tea with a complex twirl of sweet honeyed and strong bitter notes…and make your own judgement call about whether it’s worth giving that middle child some of your precious tummy love.

Bosporus Restaurant
Jumeirah Beach Road
Take the Umm Al Sheif exit on Sheikh Zayed, drive all the way down (crossing the Spinneys to your left) towards Jumeirah Beach Road, and then take a left. Bosporus will be on your right as you drive down Jumeirah Beach Road.
Phone: +971 (4) 380 8090
Website: http://bosporus-dubai.com/
Facebook Page:  http://www.facebook.com/bosporusdubai

Author: InaFryingPan

With a family legacy of ingenious cooks, a nutritionist and chef-extraordinaire mother, and a father who introduced me to steak and caviar when I could barely reach the table, I had no choice but to acquire a keen awareness of food during my childhood years in Dubai. But it was only after I found myself on a college campus in Philadelphia – far away from home, too cheap as a student to spend on anything other than pizza, and with dorm rooms that had little rat-holes of kitchens if they even had them at all – when I developed a heightened appreciation of food. An appreciation of food that I once ate every night at the dinner table in Dubai, but that was now an entire ocean away. I lusted for the culinary treasures that lay outside the stale walls of my college dining hall, hijacked friends’ kitchens to try my hand at something, anything , remotely edible, and greedily raided different websites in search of highly-rated restaurants. With my move to New York to work for a consulting firm that secretly harbored self-professed foodies, my appreciation transformed into a passion, an addicition. I felt like everyone around me in New York was talking about food: where to get the best cupcakes, pizza slices, banh mi, kati rolls, pho, fried chicken, and every other food item out there that is just a plain old dish in some part of the world, but that’s become hyped to unforeseen proportions in New York. What fuelled my addiction over time was travel to different cities, both for work and play, which gave me unfettered access to the culinary havens of not only New York, but also of DC, Virginia, Chicago, Houston, Vegas, Austin, Seattle and even a little city called Bentonville (Arkansas!). After 9 years away from home, I’ve finally taken the leap to come back to Dubai – with not just an awareness, but genuine appreciation and passionate addiction for what I’d taken for granted as a child. Mom, I’m back to reclaim my seat at your dinner table, and to rediscover this city with its ever-expanding menu of international flavors.

27 thoughts on “Have you tasted the Dӧner Kabab at Bosporus?

  1. Ishitaunblogged says:

     I feel exactly the same about Jumeirah – obviously can’t express it as lucidly or beautifully or as wittily as you! I have done almost each Juice centre and Shawarma joints on this beach road and we have a fabulous hidden gem – that we guard like a secret. However, it’s for fish lovers and from your posts I have this feeling that fish might not be your favourite pet!

    Bosporus is great. And if you want to get a ’City of Life’ kind of Dubai feel, please come here on a Thursday night! The cars honking, the sheesha and the smell of
    Dӧner Kabab drifting through!

    Reply
    1. inafryingpan says:

      @5e8c32b20f4724711dd3c80c2633f364:disqus – where did you get that idea hun, I LOVVVVE fish. And I can bet all the curried shrimps in the world that you’re referring to Buqtair. So dang good, crispy crust, fleshy white innards, everything that fish heaven is made of.

      You read my mind by the way, I will be back to Bosporus for sheesha over the weekend!

    1. inafryingpan says:

      @5e8c32b20f4724711dd3c80c2633f364:disqus uh? *confused*

    1. inafryingpan says:

      @FoodStoriesBlog:disqus – thanks C.J.!

  2. Didi says:

    Ohhhhhh!!! I have been in a food adventure rut (sticking with good ole reliables), but this makes me want to come out of the comfort food zone shell…Mmmmm grilled meat with rice!

    Reply
    1. inafryingpan says:

      @didipaterno:disqus – you’d have loved this place! Try the doner kabab at Verona in your neighborhood, that’s one of those really decadent (even if slightly synthetic) meaty fixes.

    2. Didi says:

      we should schedule that dinner soon…missing my hole-in-the-wall places with the queen of Dubai’s holes-in-the-wall :)

    1. inafryingpan says:

      @fd0d8510454cacc084339586ac44b066:disqus – would love to hear what you think of it once you do visit!

    1. inafryingpan says:

      @cefcac7c0b262b0d7ed6f6a1b59d9425:disqus – thank you, I’m flattered :) 

  3. Anita Menon says:

    Donner kebabs– aah.. reminds me of the zillion times I might have had these at the take aways in UK. Sounds like an exciting restaurant that dishes out yum food. Good that you covered them and now they would get the much needed attention that they deserve

    Reply
    1. inafryingpan says:

      @openid-77086:disqus – I find it quite interesting how doner is not just popular to Germany and UK, but also probably sold more over there under the name of donor than in Turkey itself!…it’s quite similar to the ’British curry phenomenon’… 

  4. sarah says:

    I do love the way you describe Jumeirah – it’s spot on. I tried to go to Bosphorus for lunch a week or two ago on a Saturday. I was told they don’t serve doner kebab until about 2pm. We were so disappointed – it looked so inviting, great decor, clean, lovely staff. We went to Tehran over the road though, and that has now gone down in my book of great Jumeirah eateries…

    Reply
    1. inafryingpan says:

      @64e917df4e6af6c03a214fbcda055ab6:disqus – thank you! that’s so strange though, I was there about the same time on a Sunday, and they served me donor. Strange. But that said, Tehran is on my list of must-try’s!

    2. inafryingpan says:

      Hello there! Yep, that would be me, the review writer :)
      [at least till the day I can just eat and outsource my thoughts to a writing centre in some talented corner of the world…]

    3. inafryingpan says:

      @fa4c8b30f2d5db52352f08823d6791e1:disqus – Hello there! Yep, that would be me, the review writer :)
      [at least till the day I can just eat and outsource my thoughts to a writing centre in some talented corner of the world…]

    1. inafryingpan says:

      @twitter-59809099:disqus – tell me what you think when you try it Dee!

  5. Chris says:

    Has anyone been lucky like me and tasted the Doner Kebab and other amazing food over at Flames Grills and Curry. OMG if you have not then I recommend you get to try it very soon, it’s absolutely amazing. Best restaurant in Dubai by far!!!

    Reply
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