A plate of kebab meat, chips, tomato, lettuce, cucumber and sauce

From spice to sophistication: the evolution of London’s döner kebab

London’s diversity is mirrored by its thriving kebab shops. Hamza Shehryar explores the cultural divergences of the city’s most cherished takeout.

Nothing encapsulates London culture quite like its kebab shops: enduring staples of London’s nightlife and food culture, permeating class, ethnicity, culture, and religion.

Most of London’s kebab joints are run by immigrants from all over the world and serve as perpetual reminders of the city’s diversity. Despite the abundance of these cramped eateries – there was at least one kebab shop for every 1,000 people in most London boroughs the last time data was sourced, in 2018 – kebab shops remain popular, with more opening up every year. 

Many of those who run the over 17,000 kebab shops in the UK have infused centuries of cultural and culinary history into the döner kebab, ensuring the cherished Turkish recipe remains a perpetually evolving dish that varies from store to store, and from borough to borough.

The £6.50 Bangladeshi Döner
Roosters £6.50 shatkora döner box, complete with döner, salad, chips, a drink and a slice of lemon

There is a sprawling Bangladeshi presence in east London. Many of London’s more than 300,000 Bangladeshis fled East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) during the country’s war for independence in 1971, with a large number settling in Stepney in the borough of Tower Hamlets. Stepney now has the highest concentration of Bangladeshis anywhere in the UK. Almost half of the ward’s residents are ethnically Bangladeshi. In the decades since, Stepney has become a hub of British-Bangladeshi food culture, introducing the Londoner’s palate to traditional Bengali spices and recipes. 

As soon as you exit Stepney Green station, you are greeted by a row of dilapidating takeaways and kebab shops. Many of these eateries have been around for decades and are renowned for their shatkora döner, a recipe named after the chilli paste made from the seeds of the shatkora – a citrus fruit native to the Sylhet region of Bangladesh. The shatkora döner, popularised in the 1990s as a result of the growing Bangladeshi population in east London, maintains the same characteristics of London’s abiding takeout meal – thinly sliced cuts of lamb meat and salad loaded into pitta bread or tucked under a bed of chips – served with a slice of lemon, to temper the startling kick that defines the meal. 

Roosters is one of the many Stepney takeouts specialising in the shatkora döner and has developed a cult following for its competitive prices and unapologetically spicy kebabs. Emon Shikder, a 32-year-old resident of Stepney, has been frequenting Roosters for “as long as he has been alive”. He dines at the food joint “at least once every week”, emphasising the pricing, consistency, and spice as the reasons he keeps coming back to the decrepit yet congenial little shop, sandwiched between a Chinese takeaway and a Subway on Mile End Road.

The moment you dig into Rooster’s infamous shatkora döner, the spices immediately strike you. But there’s a depth to the flavours beyond just the kick. As the heat subsides, the underlying sweetness of the shatkora blossoms, offering a gratifying aftertaste. 

According to Shikder, Roosters’ döner is best enjoyed when paired with chips and salad, which subdues the recipe’s startling zing. Roosters offers a box of shatkora döner, chips, and salad accompanied by a drink to wash it all down for just £6.50.

The £13 Posh Döner
Capital’s £13 döner, served up on a ceramic plate

While the sprawling Bangladeshi populations in Tower Hamlets have moulded the popular Turkish street feast into a cheap and homely comfort meal, a host of shops in relatively wealthier west London have done the opposite. Capital Restaurant in Hammersmith is one of many kebab shops in the area that has amalgamated takeout food with the fine-dining culture popular in the area.

While continuing to offer takeout options, Capital encourages patrons to sit at one of the many neatly lined tables and indulge in lean cuts of Turkish favourites like kofte, shish, or döner meat, neatly piled alongside chips or rice, served on ceramic plates – an experience more suited to date nights than quick bites and grab-and-go’s. 

The meal itself is, in substance, indistinguishable from what you are served at Roosters, even if it costs twice as much. There is, however, a perceptible subtlety in the flavours: an absence of the grease, salt, and spice that define most kebab joints. Capital offers a unique experience – one that formalises the döner kebab, making its culinary core stand up to more gastronomically celebrated foods. 

According to the restaurant’s Turkish owners, Mehmet and Irfan Demir, Capital offers a dining experience that enhances street food favourites for everybody to experience. “We come from the tradition of where many cultures are embraced from different cuisines,” they say. “We provide the combination of all those different cuisines blended in one.” 

The Notorious German Döner Kebab
GDK’S £7.50 döner box, served with a spicy sauce and yogurt dip

Even as eateries like Roosters and Capital ensure the döner keeps developing, its plethora of personalised variations retain their roots in the meat that is roasted on the unmistakable vertical döner spit, before being cut and served. 

This conspicuous spit is visualised in the logo of the UK’s most successful kebab franchise, German Döner Kebab (GDK). Despite only opening its first store in the country in 2015, GDK has grown rapidly. As of March 2024, GDK has over 100 stores across the country, many of them in London. 

GDK’s popularity mirrors that of the simple but enduring takeout classic it serves. Its success is also underpinned by its inclusivity. Each branch serves spit-roasted and thinly sliced pieces of chicken and beef inside tortilla wraps, waffle bread, or alongside chips but also offers extensive plant-based options for vegan and vegetarian customers, all for under £8. Catering to as many people as possible defines GDK and underpins its growth. It finds a compromise between Roosters’ spice and Capital’s sophistication. 

Despite diverging offerings, however, the endearment for GDK and the independent eateries in east and west London all serve as reminders of how the hundreds of kebab shops scattered across London come together to form a mosaic of the countless cultural influences that shape the city.