To Burnside, with love
Guest blogger Ben Boudreau reviews Burnside restaurants
Halifax Donair Photo: Richard Woodbury
Halifax’s tastiest export
By Richard Reesh Woodbury | Apr 10, 2012Tags: donair, Halifax
For Nova Scotian expatriates, the dearth of authentic donairs only adds to the hardship of being away. Luckily for Bluenosers living in Milton and Burlington, Ontario (just outside of Toronto), there is a choice. It’s called Halifax Donair and Pizza and bills itself as being “Home of the True Halifax Donair!”
“We make the meat and we make the sauce,” says co-owner Troy Power on a busy Friday evening at the Burlington location. He learned the art of making donairs while working at the European Food Shop on Halifax’s Pizza Corner.
Power says Maritimers come in often skeptical of whether Halifax Donair offers an authentic donair. To prove they do, he offers them a sample of the meat. Patrons will soon discover the texture is perfect and the meat is a tad spicier than what most Halifax shops offer, but it would certainly hold its own in any best-donair competition.
Halifax Donair first opened in Milton in 2008 and added a second location in Burlington in 2010. Power and his wife, Nancy own the company, along with his brother, Jimmy Tsouros, and Tsouros’s wife, Tina.
Business began booming after the Milton establishment appeared on CityTV Toronto’s Breakfast Television in December 2009. “Any Maritimer that was in the GTA [Greater Toronto Area] that saw that program that morning [now] knew there was a donair shop in town,” he says.
Gheez. Copy to Kimbo
I personally enjoy going to Abdul BBQ & Shawarma.It’s a tefirric place. The meat is always fresh and of a higher grade. The difference between Shawarma and Donair is that Shawarma is supposed to be made from good cuts of meat, where Donair can be made from any piece of scrap meat. If you’re going there expecting the have a generic scrap-meat wrap Donair, think again, you’ll get delicious juicy meat chunks that have been slow cooked. They make falafels as well, which they will only fry for you upon request and not have them ready-made from the day before (It’s best to call them on your way there to have them ready for you by the time you get there). This gem of a place is located at Crystal Mall (the Asian mall by Metrotown) in Burnaby.Sorry it’s completely away from Downtown, Vancouver, but it’s worth the drive/skytrain ride to Burnaby. Nothing beats this place!