Turkish Döner by SiVAS 58

by Iyath Adam

For this month’s Eating Out segment, we checked out a new restaurant, SiVAS 58 in Male’ City which serves authentic Turkish Döner.

For those of you who might be a bit unfamiliar, döner (or döner kebab) refers to meat – usually chicken, beef or lamb – which is seasoned and cooked on a vertical rotisserie. Strips of meat are then cut from it while it’s cooking and used to make dishes such as shawarma or even eaten with rice. 

Located on Ameer Ahmed Magu, the space is cosy and has tables of twos and fours as well as bar seating on one entire wall. Through a glass window, you can see into the kitchen space where the meat is cooked on the rotisserie sticks and cut.

Currently, SiVAS 58 serves chicken and beef Turkish döner – as wraps and as plates with either fries or rice.

We ordered a chicken wrap, a beef döner plate with chips and Turkish tea – which is served by the cup. The food arrived surprisingly fast and was served beautifully with salad vegetables and pickled red cabbage.

The chicken wrap was absolutely wonderful – the meat was juicy and delicious, not overcooked at all and paired well with the dollop of sauce and veggies inside.

For the döner plate, the beef portion was slightly bigger – as flavourful as the chicken although slightly saltier than expected. With both dishes, the pickled red cabbage lent a nice, sour freshness that cut through the richness of the meat.

The Turkish tea was strong as expected and went well as an end to the meal after the hearty dishes.

Although we didn’t try it, SiVAS 58 also serves Turkish baklava paired with Mövenpick vanilla ice-cream – which we will absolutely try the next time we go there! For a quick, tasty meal, this has definitely become one of the top places on our list.