Doner and Durum

Tasty Turkish treats!

From Hawaiian to Vietnamese, Colombo has no lack of cuisines to choose from but the brand new Doner and Durum brings an entirely new type of street food to Sri Lanka. Their signature dish has Turkish routes and is now famous in countries like Germany and Australia (have you heard of the Halal Snack Pack?) for being the go-to food after a night out, just like a cheese kotthu in Sri Lanka. Brought to Sri Lanka by five friends who love Doner, they’re only about a month old and are still in their soft stage but for someone so new to the scene, their performance is quite impressive.

Drinks

Antioxidant Blast – LKR 350

Admittedly not what you would expect from something with the word “Antioxidant” in it, this drink was a blend of curd, strawberry and banana, making it more of a strawberry smoothie than anything else. That being said though, the flavours were well balanced, with the natural sweetness and flavour of the fruit dominating the drink.

Salt Lassi – LKR 300

A lassi is typically found at an Indian restaurant but because we were curious, we went for it. Unfortunately, the overpowering factor of this drink was the salt more than the curd itself. Though it is visually pleasing, we probably won’t order this drink again.

Appetizers

Cigar Borek – LKR 420

A Cigar Borek translates to cigarette pastry – a Turkish filo pastry “cigar”, dubbed so for its long, thin shape. What we got in this portion was long, spring roll-like “cigars” stuffed with minced lamb and served with a garlic sauce and a hot sauce. The lamb was seasoned quite well and the filo pastry was fried crisp and golden brown. For LKR 420, it may be debatable that 3 pieces don’t quite suffice but the flavours were incredible, especially when dipped into the sauces, so we weren’t too taken aback by it.

Mains

Snack Pack (Lamb) – LKR 950

The Doner and Durum Snack Pack is just on another level. A layer of French fries, topped off with a layer of cheese, topped off with a layer of shaved lamb and sauces, we could totally see ourselves craving this as a perfect ending to a drunk night out. The good thing though is that although you feel guilty for eating such a cholesterol filled meal, there isn’t a lot of excess oil in this dish. The meat for the dish is shaved off of a vertical rotisserie so it’s perfectly marinated, evenly cooked and as oil-free as it could get. The sauces give it that extra oomph in terms of flavour and we understand now why the Snack Pack is so popular in the Land Down Under!

Doner (Chicken) – LKR 950

The Doner and Durum are D&Ds signature dishes (duh!) and you can opt for a chicken or lamb filling and choose between 3 different sauces. We went for a chicken Doner with a classic sauce and were quite impressed! A Doner is a little pocket of pita bread stuffed with flavourful chicken, lettuce, peppers, onion and topped off with sauces. The classic sauce is more garlic-mayo based and isn’t too spicy, making the flavours more subtle, with the veges giving it a change in texture and that extra healthy edge. It came with a side of golden brown fries and made for quite a hefty meal.

Durum (Chicken) – LKR 650

We opted for a chicken Durum with a Mayonado sauce, which is a mayonnaise-Tabasco mixture and a little spicier than the others, catering to a more Sri Lankan palette. A Durum is basically a large wrap – a flatbread stuffed with chicken, lettuce, tomato, pickles and plenty of delicious sauce. The Durum was again served with fries and sauces on the side too and was a large portion that will leave your tummy feeling more than happy!

Dessert

Magic Cookie Bar – LKR 400

And now we come to the favourite part of our experience at D&D – Dessert! The Magic Cookie Bar truly is magical. This dish had a soft cookie base, a cashew and chocolate filling, and was topped off with lightly caramelised coconut. The dish was served with a cup of ice cream and it. was. heaven. The hot Cookie Bar contradicted with the cold ice cream and made for a decadent, lip-smacking treat to end our meal on just the right note.

The service at D&D is friendly and quite fast with dishes coming to your table in about 5 minutes. We wish they had a few more beverage options on account of curd-based drinks not really helping with the heavy food but they assured us that this is just their test-phase and their offerings will be improving gradually. They have a killer playlist and a great ambience so we can’t wait to see what else this little joint will offer us in the near future.

Have you been to Doner and Durum yet? Let us know what you think in the comments!

Tip – save space for dessert – you won’t regret it!