First was DoneRight Döner Kebab, and now we have Istanbul Doner Kebab, with a location that is more off the beaten path as it is on 8th, between Madison and Jefferson. Both restaurants serve Turkish doner, but the comparison might stop there as Istanbul Doner Kebab is not a fast casual place as DoneRight is. From the outside, I thought it was small, but in fact they have a decent size dining room, dominated by beautiful Turkish lamps. Their menu has a few vegetarian options, like the dips (hummus, babaganouj, cacik - that is cucumber and yogurt-, labneh) or Ezme -a tomato and peppers salad. I just wished they had a sampler to try some of them. What I loved is their cigara borek ($11), these Turkish cheese rolls that were delightfully crispy and not greasy, perfect to start a meal. Continuing with vegetarian options, they have falafel that you can get in pita or lavash ($12) or as a side (4 for $8). These homemade falafels that do not have the usual spherical shape were slightly crispy on the outside and moist inside. The sandwich was good but was missing a bit of sauce (by the way, with your sandwich, you can choose your sauce from cacik, tahini, garlic or acili that is a spicy sauce). You can also opt for a shepherd salad, made with tomato, pepper, cucumber, red onions and parsley (the small one, $9, is a nice portion). A dish I really wanted to try was Iskender, a classic Turkish dish that is layered with pita in the bottom, sliced lamb, topped with tomato sauce and accompanied with yogurt. Interesting dish to try, but I admit that it was just ok for me: the pita was a bit soggy and the lamb was overpowered by the tomato sauce that did not really taste homemade. The lamb doner sandwich ($15) though was quite good, but there was not enough tahini sauce, no pickles (mentioned in the menu) and barely any salad and onion. Their lamb though was superb!

With our meals, we tried their Turkish orange soda, and Ayran, a yogurt drink I always get when having Turkish food.

Of course we could not leave without trying their desserts. The baklava was delicious, perfect with a medium sweet Turkish coffee, but I was really curious to try Annes Helva, a Turkish dessert I do not recall seeing on a menu. This dessert made with semolina and tahini, topped with chocolate ice cream was good, but not something I would reorder. I would more go for the baklava.

Overall, the food was good, with definitely some major differences with DoneRight where I would probably go for the doner, but Istanbul Doner Kebab has more dishes and would be a better spot for a sit down dinner.

Enjoy (I did)!

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Istanbul Doner Kebab - 505 8th St, Hoboken, NJ 07030

Istanbul Doner Kebab in Hoboken, NJ

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