We tried Edinburgh's new vegan kebab as a meat eater and it left us confused

Always keen to keep up with new food trends, Edinburgh Live popped along to German Doner Kebab on Lothian Road to try their new plant-based offering, the OV Kebab.

The offering is meant to resemble a pulled chicken doner, and has the same spices as their other doner options. The kebab can be made vegetarian or fully vegan— I went for the vegetarian option so as to maintain the most similarity to a meat doner. It comes with a pretty standard salad—cabbage, lettuce, onion, and tomato— and three sauces that helped add a bit of moisture back into the soy-based protein.

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Customers can add the new protein into a variety of existing menu items at GDK, adding eight new vegetarian options at the chain. The plant-based option is available in 140 UK locations, as well as on all popular delivery apps.

The folks at German Doner Kebab also generously treated me to some spiced chips and curry ketchup, which are delicious.

Let’s get into the (faux) meat and potatoes, shall we?

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First and foremost, the protein was exceedingly salty. Balanced out slightly by the singular tomato slice and heap of shredded lettuce, I found myself reaching for anything to cut the salinity. The soy-based meat substitute is meant to mimic shredded chicken, which it does only in looks. The texture is essentially the same as tofu, and it has hardly any flavour aside from that of the spice mix. It was thoroughly spiced, even if it was extremely salty, and not at all bad if removed from the context of kebab. In my opinion, the flavour of meat itself is so integral to the makeup of a doner that going plant-based makes for a confusing experience if you go in expecting a traditional kebab.

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Secondly, the bread, try as it might, could not handle the amount of fillings and their subsequent moisture, and about halfway through I had to switch to a fork and knife as my lunch was disintegrating in my hands.

I have not tried the original doner from German Doner Kebab, so I am unable to faithfully compare this plant-based option to the original menu item, but I can’t imagine any meat eater would go for this plant-based doner over the original, nor would I advise them to.

I left GDK feeling totally full, and for a £9 lunch in the city centre, I do think it was good value for money. You do get quite a lot of food, and it came out super quickly.

The staff was lovely and attentive, and the packed interior is a testament to GDK’s popularity among the work-lunch crowd. However, I am not sure that a doner is something that easily or seamlessly transitions into a plant-based option.