Kebab shops near me
Every kebab shop in our directory, ranked by distance from you, with its food hygiene rating. Search by postcode or use your location; the list updates as you widen the radius.
Find them near you
Search by postcode or use your location to find results near you.
What counts as a kebab shop
We list takeaways and grill houses whose name signals doner, kebab, grill or ocakbaşı, drawn from the Food Standards Agency register and cross-checked against Google's business listings. That catches the late-night doner counter, the family-run grill with four tables, and the ocakbaşı that also does takeaway. It does not catch a fish-and-chip shop that happens to sell kebab; we would rather miss a few than list places that are not really kebab shops.
How to pick a good one
Use the hygiene rating first: a 5 is common enough among Turkish takeaways that there is no reason to settle for a 2 or 3. Then look for a real spit, visible from the counter, with layers of meat rather than a smooth frozen cone; ask whether the doner is lamb or chicken and whether it is made in house. A shop with a charcoal grill behind the counter will do a better shish and adana than one working from a griddle. Late at night the honest test is the queue of Turkish taxi drivers.
What to order
Lamb doner in pitta with salad and garlic sauce is the standard. Chicken shish in a wrap is the leaner choice. If the shop has a charcoal grill, order adana or köfte instead of doner; the difference is large. Ask for chilli sauce on the side rather than on the meat so you can control it, and for the pitta to be toasted, not steamed. A 'yarım' (half) portion exists in most Turkish-run shops and is enough for one.
Prices and portions
A doner in pitta from a Turkish-run shop in London runs a few pounds more than the same thing from a non-Turkish takeaway, and the meat is usually better and the portion larger. Outside London prices are lower. Most kebab shops in our directory are open until at least midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, and the ones with a spit keep serving until it runs out.
Where to find them
UK councils with the most matches in our directory.
Related dishes
- 01Doner Kebab
Doner kebab is seasoned lamb, beef or chicken stacked on a vertical spit, roasted slowly and shaved into thin strips. In the UK it is sold two ways: the takeaway version in pitta or a wrap after 11pm, and the restaurant version served on rice, bread or with yoghurt and tomato sauce as an iskender. The two have little in common beyond the spit, and knowing which one you want is the whole trick to ordering well.
- 02Shish Kebab
Shish kebab is cubes of marinated lamb or chicken threaded on a flat metal skewer and grilled over charcoal. It is the original kebab, the one the word was coined for, and on a UK ocakbaşı menu it is the benchmark dish: if the shish is good, the kitchen is good. It is served with rice or bulgur, grilled pepper and tomato, and sumac onions, and it is the order to make when you do not know the restaurant.
- 03Adana Kebab
Adana kebab is hand-minced lamb mixed with tail fat and red pepper, pressed along a wide flat skewer and grilled over charcoal. It comes from the city of Adana in southern Turkey, where the name is legally protected and the recipe is strict: lamb, fat, pepper, salt, nothing else. The UK version is spicier and more varied than the original, and it is the dish to order when you want heat and smoke rather than a clean cut of meat.
- 04Tavuk Şiş
Tavuk şiş is chicken thigh, cubed, marinated in yoghurt, garlic, paprika and lemon, and grilled on a skewer over charcoal. It is the chicken counterpart to lamb shish and the most ordered dish in most UK Turkish restaurants, because it suits everyone. The difference between a great one and an ordinary one is entirely the cut and the marinade: thigh not breast, and long enough in the yoghurt to go tender.