Chiya review: €9.90 Berlin-style kebab could be Dublin city's best bargain

Times

2 days ago

71 Dame Street, Dublin 2★ 7/10
Could this be the most substantial, generous and incredible value dish that Dublin city centre offers? For €9.90 Chiya's heavy, generously packed, exuberantly fresh pittas — a two-handed eating experience and probably enough eating for two in one — might just be the best deal to be found on Dame Street, if not the whole city centre. In this particular precinct possibly only Umi Falafel opposite or the Detroit-style pizza shop Doom Slice could give chase in the value stakes.
This Berlin-inspired kebab spot blazed on to the scene just under nine months ago, opening in mid-November at the heart of Dame Street next door to the Olympia Theatre. It comes from the Aydin family, the same team behind Reyna a few steps away, which reimagined the unit formerly home to Iskanders for almost three decades and which we reviewed in May 2023.
Prior to opening, Chiya was teased first at Big Grill, the barbecue and live fire festival held in Herbert Park, exactly a year ago. The festival rolls around again this week, from Thursday to Sunday.
While Reyna zones in on Turkish specialities and is sympathetic to the traditional Turkish-style kebab shop — two years ago we wrote 'a dash of old school in new school uniform', making effectively everything in-house from scratch and cooking over charcoal rather than gas — Chiya follows the German interpretation, most popularised in the city of Berlin, of Turkish kebabs served with a distinct German accent.
Theoretically Berlin-style kebabs are a lighter affair with more sandwich real estate given over to salads and various sauces while the proteins pivot more crowd-pleasing (chicken, beef and halloumi) than leaning on lamb or offal.
The main difference, however, lies in the bread — Turkish pide with a fluffy, chewy middle but a crisp exterior. The pide is baked in a big boule, quartered and then sliced through the middle to fan out in a triangular shape allowing the utmost surface area to layer, fill, stuff and top.
The bread is also pressed on a grill plate to make the exterior extra crunchy while branding in grill marks. The dual bouncy interior and crisp exterior with griddle marks is a texture and taste most Irish palates will be familiar with, having endured the era of the panini throughout the 2000s.
Chiya's mixed doner is the signature we start with and as a calling card it's fairly majestic — mega in size and invitingly open-faced. Every mouthful is memorable with lots of different fresh elements, but it is the chicken-beef mix that makes it. Shaved to order in razor-thin, tender and delicate cuttings from the vertical rotating spits, the beef and the chicken have an intensity, caramelisation and welcome charred note.
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As a vegetarian alternative, the halloumi version lacks a similar shine. Without that rich meatiness, it's an overly crunchy salad sandwich experience punctuated by squeaky cheese. Even with the additional slick of a slightly spiced red pepper houmous, it is drier and lacks the depth, intensity and juiciness of the mixed doner.
There is also a müjver (courgette fritters) and gemüse (deep fried vegetables) option to fill the pitta, while you can also build your own bowl. We order extra Berliner sauce on the side, which turns out to be ranch by any other name — garlicky, herby, creamy, inoffensive and fast-foody but not particularly interesting. Two brilliant touches are the complementary fiery accompaniments, mismatched jars of properly piquant pickled Turkish peppers on every table and the pul biber chili flake sprinkle.
Chiya has a polished fit-out and clearly a lot of thought pumped into a primely perched unit. There is coral-coloured scallop ceiling detailing, flashes of its signature forest green carried through from the exterior wall colour into window frames and stool tops and the whole space feels modern and contemporary.
However, with only about ten tables it's a fight-for-your-life situation when busy, like last Thursday evening. Having ordered and been bestowed buzzers, it's a case of embodying your inner seagull: glaring at all the customers eating, eyes primed on the prize, judging when they might flinch and ready to pounce at moment's notice. There is no rhyme or reason to the system; twice we're beaten to seats by those who ordered after us.
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On the sides section of the menu cheesy börek catches our eye but is sold out, so we order a few of the others. The curly fries are fine, though odd to find here, and there's not a lot of imagination you can apply to spirals of coated potato from the freezer.
Deep-fried courgette fritters are more interesting — crunchy polenta-coated on the outside and mushy-middled, punctuated by cubed, cooked courgette and a whack of dill. The interior is almost akin to tzatziki, super-chilled, coated and fried the way the Spanish begin croquetas from a base of béchamel.
Homemade ayran, the Turkish salted yoghurt drink, is properly tangy and tart, cool, refreshing and creamy, but inching ever so slightly on cheesy, which is definitely an acquired taste. Homemade lemonade is sharp and zingy, more sweet than tart, and would be better served with a hefty handful of ice.
For the value, flavour and portion size it might be easy to overlook provenance and it appears that is the case — we see no sourcing information whatsoever, not even indications of the meat being Irish.
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It looks like Chiya does a roaring takeaway trade, but we're not convinced this type of loaded kebab travel particularly well. Much of the joy is applying to face in-person here, where the kebab arrives handsomely on a brushed metal tray set in a large branded taco holder.
Chiya is a clever concept offering stonking value for the portions and flavour. All it needs is a bit more German efficiency to create a smoother, more seamless UX.
Halloumi pitta €9.90Mixed doner pitta €9.90Müjver €4.50Curly fries and ayran (meal) €7Berliner sauce €2Lemonade €3.50
Total: €36.80
Three more kebab spots worth knowing in Dublin
Berliner, Richmond Street South Another recent addition to the city and a fellow small, Berlin-style kebab spot specialising in sourdough pide in the city centre; @berlinerkebabdublin
Baxto's, Mulhuddart A Persian/Kurdish take on kebabs and other unique specialities in Dublin 15; @baxtoskebab
Zaytoon (various) Nourishing Dublin for 25 years, Zaytoon opened in 2000 and now boasts five locations across the city, from Swords in the north to Sandyford in the south; @zaytoon.ie
@chiyadublin