There is nothing better than having a friend play tour guide in a new, foreign city, as you're…read morebound to end up at spots you would not have found on your own. I learned while visiting Mannheim that the city has an enormous Turkish population, and therefore it has dozens of Turkish restaurants. Uzun Tasfirini is acclaimed as one of the best spots in the "Little Istanbul" neighborhood, specializing in pides. Pides (pronounced "pea-days") are the Turkish equivalent to pizza. This snack food is a large flatbread topped with ground lamb, tomatoes, and spices, which bakes in a wood-fired oven for less than 10 minutes. It is then cut into squares and served with peppers, parsley, and lemons. You assemble the peppers and parsley yourself, squeezing lemon over your pide before you fold it up and indulge in this pizza treat. It's a simple, delicious dish that you can't miss out on if you're in Mannheim or are feeling homesick for a slice of pizza.

If you find yourself in Mannheim, you can't do better than Uzun. This small place specializes in…read moreTurkish pides, all of which are freshly baked in a huge wood-fired oven. A fresh, filling meal including a drink will run you about 6 Euros, which is hard to beat. To start, order the mercimek corbasi soup, a lentil soup made fresh in house. It comes with fresh baked Turkish flat bread, lemon and spices. For the main course, there's a variety of pides to choose from, but my favorite is the spinach & feta -- freshly chopped bright green spinach mixed with creamy cheese, engulfed in homemade Turkish bread, with generous brushed butter on top, crisped to perfection. Heaven is a place on earth with you.

It was decent but to be fair, Heidelberg has better Doners . Not that it was horrible but just not…read moreas "tasty " as others ( yea, I seek out the Do er places when I go to Germany , that and cold beer ) . I wouldn't say avoid it but I would say try as many others as possible .

The bf and I ran into this place looking for a different Greek restaurant and we are glad we did…read more It's a small, cash only establishment with 3 tables that can sit 2 to 4. There looks to be a section for outside seating but as it was raining and a little later on the evening, indoor seating was the only option. After looking over the menu (thank goodness for translation apps!), we decided to order the mixed meat plate to share. They had a steady stream of costumers on a Saturday evening, all of us patiently waiting as the server/ cook/ cashier was preparing the food. As we are tourists, we dined in. We were very pleasantly surprised when we received our food. There was a mound of food. About 1/3 crispy French fries and 2/3 of at least 5 or 6 types of meat. Gyro meat. chicken kebab, pork kebab, ground meat patty, and I think a pork loin slice. There was also some red onion, white onion, tomato and tzatziki sauce. Honestly, all the meats (even the chicken kebab) were super well flavored and cooked. We used the sauce for fries and occasional meat but it wasn't really necessary. The gyro meat and the ground beef patty were my favorites. Somehow, we managed to finish the whole plate even though it was a ton of food. It was apparently too yummy to stop! (Also, we didn't want to take anything back without a way to reheat.) In any case, there wouldn't have been enough anyway! While we were enjoying our food, we used translate to tell him "danke es war sehr gut!" The bf mentioned that he wouldn't mind coming back every day (if he didn't have other obligations) for our time here. I may be back one more time though!