Turkish, via Halifax

NOVA SCOTIA DONAIRS | Star food editor Jennifer Bain samples saucy regional fave

College Falafel ($4.99) West-end

Toronto Star
Date: Apr 23, 2006
Start Page: C.06
Section: Entertainment

DISH DECONSTRUCTION This "Halifax-Style Donair" starts with halal donair meat (for the taste, not the halal designation) that's sliced and cooked with onions on a flat-top grill instead of on the vertical rotisserie. This is put in a warmed whole-wheat pita with onions, tomatoes and homemade sauce made from condensed milk, vinegar, garlic powder and sugar.

OFFICIAL WORD "We have made many Nova Scotia friends because they feel when they come here, they've come home," reports Albanian owner Bardhyl Musa, whose wife, Oljana does much of the cooking. "We try to put it (the meat) on the spit but it gets dried and it loses taste."

THE STORY This four-year-old takeout restaurant is so proud of its donair, its framed photo adorns an outdoor menu board. The Musas got their sauce recipe and meat source from a customer whose mother ran a Halifax donair shop.

College Falafel, 450 Ossington Ave. (at College St.), 416-532- 8698. Open Monday to Thursday, 9 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 8 p.m.

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