Restaurant Review: Queen Donair

QUEEN DONAIR 10827 Jasper Avenue Instagram: @queendonair ~ Twitter: @QueenDonair Co-Diners: The E.A.T Crew

You've heard me talk about Edmonton's unofficial food in the past and there's one more restaurant that I had to add to the list. At this point I have visited all of the city's most celebrated donair shops, including Swiss Donair and Simply Donairs. I've given you the full history of this Halifax-born meat wrap and I've explained how it became such a sensation in Edmonton specifically. Now all you really need to know is which one is the best. If you only had time to eat ONE, which should it be? Edmonton Journal named Queen Donair the Best Shawarma/Donair 2021 and I needed to visit them in order to round out the Edmonton donair trifecta. (Of course there are plenty of other donair shops in the city - LOTS! But these three tend to have the most notoriety and buzz.) Another thing that I did at each of the shops? I tried their poutine. Because each of them offers a spin on this Canadian classic. Queen Donair has a few locations around the city and one of the most popular ones used to be the location on Whyte Ave. (It was a literal hole-in-the-wall and if you're like me, you have memories of eating their donairs at about 3am...) Unfortunately the Whyte Ave location has since closed. Because of this, I opted for the second best thing, which is the Downtown shop on Jasper Ave. With brightly-lit signage, you'll find them on one of the busiest corners in the city. I visited on a chilly Sunday evening and was happy to get into their warm and welcoming space. I have to admit, I was very pleasantly surprised. The restaurant is roomy, there's a nice dining area, and there's actually some nice decor. A far, FAR cry from what the old location on Whyte Ave used to look like, that's for sure. I was impressed at the comfortable seating and upholstery, the faux exposed brick wall is a nice touch, and the bejeweled wall decorations bring a lot of style. It's still the sort of operation where you place your order at the counter, there are still vertical spinning meats (I'd be angry if there wasn't!), but it's easily the nicest restaurant out of the three that I've visited. It feels more like a place to dine and much less like a dingy fast food establishment. The service was also incredibly friendly. The gentleman working was gracious and kind. Once our order was placed we made our way to a table and after a short wait the food was delivered directly to our spot and it was time to get started! Like most donair shops in town, there are two types of meat available; beef and chicken. They'll usually even let you mix both together if you want to. Attempting to keep things pretty classic, I went for the Cheese Donair ($10.40) since that's what I've been getting everywhere. Similar to all of the other places, it's massive.

Onion, tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, sweet sauce.

You'll be asked if you want all of the toppings, and yes, of course you do. The shaved, seasoned beef is extremely abundant. There is no skimping out when it comes to the absolute heaping amount of meat on this thing. Tender and flavourful, the donair meat is exactly everything that it's supposed to be. There's something about its texture that just seems so satisfying. The flatbread was warm and soft with just the right amount of chew. The veggies all seemed fresh and were packed in with a far less ratio than the meat. But let's face it, that's what you want. There's cheese in there somewhere. And of course the sweet sauce, the crowning element that makes a donair exactly what it is. It's messy, it will definitely fall apart all over your pants, but this donair is also an extremely perfect example of a classic "Edmonton donair." They aren't fooling around with it, they aren't giving you too many options, Queen Donair is simply giving you what you came for. I might be tempted to say that the donair at Simply Donairs is my overall favourite but their location is also pretty inconvenient. The one at Queen Donair is solid and you can have it right now. As I mentioned, all of the donair shops make a donair poutine. They understand that they've got a golden opportunity to create a beautiful marriage between Canadian and Turkish-by-way-of-Halifax cuisine. However, at Queen Donair there are LOTS of options. They've got at least seven types of poutine, all using different meats and different starch bases. Also, they've got mozza sticks. So that's something. I went straight for the most epic of the poutines and ordered the Tater Tot Donair Poutine ($14.99) because even though I'm a poutine purist, when tots are a choice... You should probably do tots.

This poutine is INSANE. First of all, it's gigantic. It's also about 50% donair meat which is ridiculous. The golden fried tater tots are somewhere underneath the heap of stuff, everything is drenched in gravy, there's a whole lot of cheese used (it's shredded cheese, however none of the donair shops use curds), and the top is completely smothered in sweet sauce. It's a lot. You will need to share this with several people and you probably won't finish it. However, I loved it. This is the best donair poutine in the city because there's so much of everything and it all tastes amazing. I really loved the tots and I think that that's the component that sets this version apart. Lots of the tots turned into a big, wet, potatoey mass under the weight of the gravy and sauce but I wasn't mad at it. If you're going to make a poutine like this you might as well go for it and Queen Donair does. Dessert? They've got housemade Baklava ($2.25 per piece). You probably won't have room for it but you can try.

One little piece of baklava is actually the perfect amount to eat after a meal like this. Crisp and flaky, I loved the dense layer of chopped pistachio and extra loved the way that this sweet treat is positively soaked in sweet syrup. This version was lovely and I was happy to have tried it. So which Edmonton donair reigns supreme? Each shop has their own strengths but I would visit Simply Donairs for the donair itself and Queen Donair for their poutine. Although in a city that reveres the donair as much as this one does, you almost can't go wrong. There's already a standard that most shops adhere to. I like Queen Donair because they crushed it on a service and aesthetic level. Get out there and get the full Edmontonian experience by having a donair in one hand and a green onion cake in the other. You'll fit in just fine.