Local food blogger Ramneek Singh takes on Edmonton's donair scene
After his two-year "Butter Chicken Odyssey" reviewing 50 dishes, Singh is now exploring Edmonton's booming donair market with the same meticulous detail.
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Ramneek Singh, the food blogger behind Ram's Food Reviews, has shifted focus from butter chicken to what he considers his "all time favourite food": donairs.
After spending two years reviewing fifty different butter chicken dishes across Edmonton, Singh was hesitant about donairs—"I thought donairs had been done to death." But the response to his feeler was overwhelming. "The donair scene is bumping, man, it's brilliant, so many good donairs," he says.
Edmonton has roughly 120 restaurants with the word donair in them, far more than Halifax, where donairs originated. Singh began his odyssey May 6 with a review of Mike's Famous on Whyte, which he said disassembled his fond memories of street-food nights on the avenue. More recently, he praised Eddie's Donair & Pizza on 163rd Street for the "peppery kick" of their meat, rating it 4.15 out of 5, while lamenting the dearth of sweet sauce.
The history of donairs in Edmonton is somewhat murky. Writer Omar Mouallem points to Chawki El-Homeira and his shop Charles Smart as ground zero in 1982. Singh notes Charles Smart acknowledged other donair shops existed, but he popularized them. "There was this one guy on Facebook the other day, he told me that he had a donair from Queen Donair in 1978," Singh says, skeptical of earlier claims.
The response to his donair journey has already exceeded his butter chicken efforts. Donairs provoke what Singh calls an almost "religious" response in people, with readers insisting he check out their favourite spots next.
