What The Pitta – The Vegan Döner That Might Just Change Your Life

After a night out all most of want to do is find a kebab shop and grab that greasy kebab and hot chips with burger sauce and slight squirt of barbeque sauce. As you sink your teeth into that kebab and all those spices awaken your taste buds and take you to another place. The next morning you wake up with sauce all down your clothes, which you forgot to change out of and realize you have a ‘What The Pitta’ food wrapper in your hands so you obviously wonder to yourself ‘What The Pitta?’, get on to good ol google and find you had a meatless vegan kebab which tasted even better than your usual meaty one. This is exactly what happened to me guys after a night out in Shoreditch, I kid you not. In my digging I thought it would be better to hear it from the horse’s mouth (no pun intended). Co-founder Cem talks us through a ‘What The Pitta’ mouthful experience and a vegan doner domination quest.

We are so used to grabbing a meaty kebab after a heavy night out, so why should we opt for a veggie döner instead?

Number one it’s all about flavour which is what people are looking for whether they’re meat eaters or not.  We cook everything from scratch from our marinated soya pieces, our breads, hummus and tzatziki. We always have customers come back to us saying that our döner was the first they’d eaten that didn’t make them feel gross and bloated afterwards and customers often express how surprised they are that it’s actually a meat free version! 

What was your favourite meat dish before you gave up meat and dairy?

I did love a good juicy burger but with the new ‘Impossible burger’, I feel we finally have a vegan alternative that hits the mark on flavour and texture. No more crumbly falafel burgers! 

What’s your reaction when people say going vegan/veggie is hard?

Everything is hard until you gain some experience. Simply educate yourself with online content or speak to someone who’s been doing it for a while. I chose veganism initially because of the health benefits and we all know life will be a lot harder if you’re suffering from a host of illnesses that can come with a heavy meat-based diet, so it’s a trade-off, short term pleasure < long term health and well-being. You don’t have to go all in straight away either, having more meat free days is a good start. 

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How would you describe a ‘What The Pitta’ mouthful experience?

People always mention how tasty our bread is which is the first flavour that kicks in, then you get your homemade hummus followed by crunchy lettuce, pickled red cabbage, onions and tomatoes. Once you get to the meaty soya pieces the authentic Turkish flavours fill your mouth then you hit the cold fresh garlic tzatziki and the tingle of our new spicy chilli sauce loaded with scotch bonnets. There’s a lot going on with our vegan döner! 

You’ve got spots in Brighton, Camden and Shoreditch where is the vegan doner domination quest taking you next? How do you source which areas to expand to?

At the moment I’m on the scout for shops in both Brixton and Manchester’s Northern Quarter. I feel we can have ‘What The Pitta’s’ all over but we’re still finding our feet as a new small business so it’s logistics and experience that’s really stopping us from growing as quickly as we would like to. 

Try out What The Pitta at:

89-91 Bayham Street – Camden

Boxpark Shoreditch – Unit 52, 2-10 Bethnal Green Rd, London E1 6GY

Brighton – 14 East Street, BN1 1HP

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