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The best thing about Ontario? Halifax.
The donair has been much loved and often maligned over the years. I’ve been in both of those camps but more recently I’m most certainly a lover of this East Coast original.
When I first moved to the Maritimes in the late 90s, I had my first introduction this wrap. At first glance it just looks like a heavier, beefier version of a gyro or souvlaki pita but I think this is a sandwich that stands on its own, both with unique flavour and technique, and perhaps most importantly with its own tradition, most notably in the Halifax area.
According to many sources that have researched the history of the donair, the wrap first appeared in Halifax by way of a Turkish immigrant in 1971. Years later it was popular all over the Maritimes and only now is starting to make the trip further west.
It’s a safe bet that the original sandwich was a nice, spicy, rich-tasting sandwich given it’s Mediterranean roots. The originators almost assuredly took pride in the sandwich that they put so much effort into getting the Maritimes (of all places) to embrace.
Nearly 40 years later and about a 20 hour drive from Halifax, you can get the real deal of a donair at Halifax Donair & Pizza in Milton, Ontario. Tucked into a little strip mall at 295 Main Street East in the small town just west of Mississauga, this little business is pumping out donairs the old fashioned way, true to the style of the original sandwich. Started by a couple of guys who are descendants of some of the old school originators of the donair, Halifax Donair is getting the buzz started all over again in a new area of the country.
I stopped in on Christmas Eve for a large donair. Unlike most large donairs I’ve had in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, this truly was a friggin’ (to use Maritime slang) LARGE donair. It was hefty and felt like a good pound while priced at only $8.99 (the typical price I’ve paid back in New Brunswick).
Unlike some joints that just pile meat onto a pita, top with onion and tomato and slop on way too much sauce, this place takes care in how the wrap is made. Once the order is taken, step one is to give the pita a quick dip in a container of water beside the grill, then drain and place on the grill. Doing this gives the donair a notable crispness to the exterior while keeping the interior fluffy moist. Texture here makes all the difference.
The pita is placed on the counter and a bit of sauce is applied. Some onion and tomato go on, then comes the beef.
Just beyond the front counter in full view of hungry customers are two spits, packed with about 50 pounds of beef each that are slowly turning, roasting to a carmelized hue. The meat is shaved and placed on the pita, then more sauce – not too much – is applied and the whole works is expertly wrapped up in foil.
The meat is the star of the show here. At Halifax Donair & Pizza, their meat seems much more peppery than any I’ve had before, which I absolutely love as a total pepperhead. The sweet sauce is there but not overpowering or drenching the rest of the sandwich. And remarkably, the sweet sauce finally makes sense when paired with the super peppery beef here. I’ve often found with other donairs with less-flavourful meats that the sauce ends up tasting more like cake icing than something that would be good with dead cow.
This combo made a lot of sense though and combined with that perfect-textured pita, it’s a jaw dropper. Very easily the best donair I’ve had – the benchmark for what a donair should be.
So if you’re ever in the Toronto area, get out of that town as fast as you can and just go to Milton. Halifax Donair & Pizza is located at 295 Main Street East in Milton and they also have a location at 3300 Fairview Street in Burlington.
Sadly it’s too easy to get a sub-standard donair in the Maritimes now. It’d be cool if these guys could introduce this sandwich to the East Coast again. Maybe someday.
Applying a bit more sauce to the hefty donair before it’s wrapped then rammed into my face.
Side bar: Putting the Do and Don(‘t) in Donair:
- Do not put lettuce on it. If you want a salad, have one next week.
- Do not put salami on it. You know what goes on a donair? Donair meat. Dogs, bricks, children and salami do not. Especially not salami.
- Do not oversauce a donair. So you like to bath in the sweet sauce? That’s wonderful. I do not. It should be there, but it shouldn’t be the whole party.
- Do not do nothing to a pita. Do not do too much to the pita. The pita should not be completely soft and mushy. The pita should not be crunchy like a friggin’ Dorito. Middle ground people. Work on it.
- Do not ever buy any kind of donair “kit” in a grocery store. Why? Because I will punch you. That’s why.
Hi Johanne, thanks for your comment. Yes, I’ve tried making the meat myself a couple of times. I actually made a fine mince of spiced meat and slowly roasted it over charcoal to simulate the roasting spit of the classic donair meat, and sliced off the carmelized exterior as it cooked. Worked really well! For spices, I just guessed with a Middle-eastern, Turkish-inspired blend of cinnamon, garlic, cumin and I think allspice. The meat needs to be a fairly fatty cut so it doesn’t dry out.
I like the look of your donair on your blog! Gotta give that another try myself. Thanks!
I’ve been enjoying your blog for a couple of hours and now I totally can’t decide what to make for supper. Love your donair post. I wrote one myself last summer. I like both the Halifax style and the Pizza Delight style donairs. Have you tried making the meat and sauce yourself? Since you make your own pitas, I’m assuming you have but ya never know. Here’s a link to my donair experiments. http://dinerschool.wordpress.com/2010/08/21/maritime-donairs/ I must make some more. They are amazing. I next want to try making it with ground turkey or chicken, just to see what it’s like. Lemme know what you think.
friggin right! What KOD on Prince William did was good–they even dipped their pita in the water to get the right consistency-bit toasted but still chewy. Never understood those who put the mozzarella and lettuce on theirs. I don’t want to think too much about how the meat stayed healthy after turning for hours in the little grill, though.
I have too many memories of sitting on the wall by the Main Library in Halifax under the dour gaze of Winnie Churchill at two a.m. slurping up my donair after dancing my heart out at the liquordome.
Those were the days…..
Thanks Cindo! I really wish we could get a donair like this in the Maritimes. King of Donair on Prince William used to do a proper one but we tragically lost them a few years back. I don’t understand why a KOD franchise couldn’t work in Saint John.
stellar post hawk, just stellar. im a big fan of your use of the word friggin’ and your threats of violence towards those who dare purchase those garbage donair kits.