Bursa Original · Sliced Döner over Bread

İskender Kebab

Photo: Scott Dexter / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0

It's named after İskender Efendi, whose family says he began roasting döner vertically in his Bursa shop in the 1860s; his descendants still run the restaurant and hold the name as a trademark.

Thin slices of döner-roasted lamb are laid over cubes of bread, blanketed in tomato sauce, and finished tableside with melted butter and a spoonful of yogurt. It comes from Bursa, where it remains the city's signature plate.

Why it's made this way: Bursa, the Ottoman capital before Istanbul and a hub on the Marmara trade routes, is where vertical döner roasting is said to have taken its modern form, making the city the dish's undisputed home.