The Döner Kebab has a poor reputation. Paul Baron is challenging that perception with his award-winning, healthy and sustainable food. You don’t even need to like meat to enjoy these kebabs – there are great tasting vegetarian and vegan options.
I met Paul in the Leeds City Centre branch of I am Döner on Infirmary Street. Before our chat, I sampled a kebab. This kebab was possibly as good as anything I have eaten in Berlin and definitely the best I have eaten in England. The meat was tender, moist and well marinated but it was the bread that was the star of the show.
Most kebabs in Britain are served in dry pitta or flat tortillas. Here the homemade bread is risen just enough to make a soft, strong blanket to surround the kebab. Keeping the meat company was lightly pickled cabbage, carrot and salad. The ingredient that seemed to bring it all together was a little bit of feta, playing the same role that hummus does in a shawarma but without being as cloying. Well-made sauces added richness to the kebab.
Paul explained the journey that brought him to revolutionise the Döner Kebab. He was brought up with a mother who worked in catering and a father who was a musician. Despite a stint cooking for Kosovan refugees as a teenager, he initially studied music. Although he enjoyed music at college, he decided a music degree was not for him and dropped out of university. He found work in the Michelin-starred restaurant at the Midland Hotel in Manchester, clearing tables and washing up.
Over time, and a drunken night, when he had apparently bombarded a chef with stories about his love of cooking, he was allowed near the food. He eventually became the chef in charge of vegetables. He went on to work in a number of different restaurants: Italian, Indian and British. He enjoyed four years at the Craven Heifer Inn on the border between Yorkshire and Lancashire and tells me that the recipe for the red cabbage comes from his time cooking there.
Paul eventually became head chef for a wine bar in his home town of Clitheroe. Each month the wine bar team would visit a different city, looking for inspiration for their dishes. He is a big believer in field trips to research recipes.
Wanting to branch out on his own, he looked at the takeaway market. Paul had the idea of developing a premium Döner kebab before other chains began springing up on high streets. Having secured a takeaway site in Headingley in 2017, the process of researching the best possible kebab began.
He tried exploring London but found little to impress him. So it was off to Berlin, where the Döner Kebab was invented by Turkish immigrants in the 1970s. He queued for hours in the cold to sample Mustafa’s Gemuse Kebap, sold from a van, but always busy. He discovered the power of good bread and was inspired to add unexpected ingredients including feta, courgette and coriander.
Then came the hard work of finessing the marinades, salads, sauces and cooking process in the kitchen. Initially, producing a kebab was a three day process. The halal meat had to be marinated, sliced, frozen, defrosted and then cooked. Having established the process, the meat is now cooked off site. I am Döner does not use spits. This improves energy efficiency and food hygiene. Traditionally, doner meat has been cooked from frozen, leading to concerns about cooked and raw meat being in close proximity. Reheating is by steam to keep the meat moist. There is no raw meat at I am Döner, ensuring food safety.
There are now five branches: Headingley, Harrogate, Leeds City Centre, Dubai and Bootle near Liverpool. As you might have guessed from the last two locations, Paul has now developed a franchise model. He is currently in negotiations with interested parties in London and the South-East. Headingley, Harrogate and Dubai are purely take away, with a few stools to perch and munch at the City centre branch, but the new Bootle store has booths for diners.
Not only will I am Döner expand geographically, but it is also set to expand the audience for kebabs. This place is not just for meat lovers: half of the kebabs, rice boxes and salads are vegetarian. Two options on every list are vegan Voner Setan or falafel. Paul brought some Voner Setan for me to try. The plant based doner soaks up the marinade well, retaining more flavour than the meat version, and tears nicely, like very finely sliced doner meat. At the Headingley branch, thirty percent of orders are for vegan dishes.
I am Döner started winning awards soon after opening. At the 2017 British Kebab Awards they won the Just Eat Best Delivery Award. They were back in 2019 to win the Sustainability Award. Jeremy Corbyn presented the 2019 awards. I am sure as a vegetarian and green campaigner he would have been impressed by I am Döner. They use no plastic, ordering is paperless and they recycle as much as possible.
This year Paul Baron has been shortlisted for Personality of the Year in the 2023 Azets Yorkshire Food & Drink Business awards. Winners will be announced later this month. Paul believes he may have attracted the judges’ attention because he likes ‘ to be a bit wacky.’ (Good Friday saw him strutting his stuff in a chicken costume.) Having tried a different cut of chicken, he is returning to using thighs as customer feedback has been that other cuts are not as tasty or juicy. Dressing up as a chicken is his way of apologising and promoting the change.
Other promotions have included camel kebabs, last May, to mark the opening of the Dubai branch. Winter 2022 saw a video shot in Finland to promote a festive reindeer meat kebab. Paul saw the reindeer kebab as a healthy seasonal offering. In other years, a Christmas Dinner Döner Kebab has been offered. Sourcing halal turkey meat proved difficult but they now have a reliable source.
Although the food is healthy, I did go away completely stuffed. He may be from Lancashire, but Paul Baron understands about Yorkshire portions. I had a big bag of fries alongside my large kebab. There was probably enough food for two, but it was so tasty that I somehow finished all the kebab and most of the fries. They also serve sweet potato fries if you want a healthier option.
The £5 lunch club offer gives customers the option of a slightly smaller Döner kebab for £5. I visited midweek, around 1pm, when there was a sudden flurry of customers. The location, opposite Box Bar and round the corner from Greek Street, keeps it open until 2am on Fridays and Saturdays. Deliveries are a big part of the business both lunchtime and evening. You can order through Deliveroo, Uber Eats or Just Eat.
The last doner kebab I ate was in Berlin. I had not expected to find anything as good in the UK, so I am very glad I accepted the invitation to visit I am Döner. I possibly found something even better – really good kebabs whether you want to eat meat, cheese or plant-based food.
