Food & Drinks

This hair salon you make yourself and is the ultimate comfort food

This hair salon you make yourself and is the ultimate comfort food

Say wine, snacks or haute cuisine and the gourmands at online food magazine FavorFlav know where to drink, how to eat it and what to cook. This time our cheffies serve you: this snack you make yourself and is the ultimate comfort food.

Rotterdammers are no wimps. Right, aren't they? The bluff from The Hague? Forget it. Utrecht's tea drinkers? I don't think so. And Rotterdammers really don't need to know how they eat herring in 020. So it's not surprising that the kapsalon originated in Rotterdam. Fortunately, you can now eat it almost everywhere, and also enjoy it at home.

 Ingredients

  • 700 g ready-made (oven/Airfryer) fries (frozen)
  • 500 g shawarma strips (butcher)
  • 100 g Gouda aged cheese, grated
  • 100 g iceberg lettuce, chopped
  • 2 tomatoes, sliced
  • 1/2 cucumber, sliced
  • 100 ml garlic sauce
  • 1/2 tbsp sambal

For those who really only think of head hair when they hear kapsalon (huh, really?): a kapsalon is a dish of fries topped with shawarma, covered with grilled cheese, with salad on top, accompanied by garlic sauce and sambal. And yes, this is fantastic. I'm not the only one who thinks so; the kapsalon has been embraced far beyond Rotterdam in recent years. All because in 2003, the owner of a kapsalon on Schiedamseweg regularly ordered this delicacy as his favorite lunch at the shawarma shop El Aviva.

Kapsalon around the world
In Belgium, they apparently looked across the border, because about ten years ago a similar snack appeared there: the ‘mitraillette’, a baguette with meat, fries, and sauce, possibly supplemented with salad and cheese. On the other side of the world, this crazy but oh so delicious combination also caught on. In Australia, our kapsalon is called ‘halal snack pack’ and they add some jalapeños and hummus upon request. In 2017, the kapsalon even became a hit in Kathmandu for a while, when a Nepalese chef introduced the dish on-site after a visit to the Netherlands.

Making it yourself is not difficult. You can find the easy version below.

Here's how to make a real Rotterdam kapsalon

Kapsalon: a few simple layers with a big effect

Here's how to make a real Rotterdam kapsalon

  • Prepare the fries in the oven, Airfryer, or deep fryer according to the instructions on the package.
  • Fry the shawarma strips in a frying pan for 8 minutes until cooked and nicely browned.
  • Place the fries on a plate, or for the real snack bar feeling: in an aluminum tray and drape the shawarma on top.
  • Sprinkle with grated cheese and let it melt under the grill in the oven.
  • Garnish the dish with some iceberg lettuce, slices of tomato and cucumber, and add garlic sauce and sambal to taste.

More deliciousness from Rotterdam
Besides the kapsalon, many more delicious things are eaten in Rotterdam, such as the ‘broodje koeientiet’ and the blood sausage. You can find these and many more delicacies from Rotterdam and the surrounding area in Cookbook of Rotterdam.

the Cookbook of Rotterdam

Title: Cookbook of Rotterdam
Author: Karen Groeneveld
Price: €12,50
Publisher: The Black Sheep