Falafel

As others have said, this is an extremely friendly cafe/takeaway, offering inexpensive and often delicious food. The eponymous falafel comes served in the superior Lebanese fashion, wrapped up tightly in a flatbread, with a salad of lettuce, onion, tomato and parsley, pickles and jalapenos if you want them, and chilli and yoghurt sauces. The falafel are of the crisp, light variety, and while perhaps less punchy than some others I've had, they are delicious either solo (the owner often gives you a free one while you wait for your food, as others said), or amid the rest of the goodness. All this for £3, even if you eat in. Your wrap comes simply wrapped up in paper, avoiding that rather depressing and unsightly polystyrene packaging favoured by some outlets.

There's plenty else besides this on offer, including hearty chicken and lamb stews, lamb and chicken shwamas, and delicious lentil soup, costing just £1 for a modest but sufficient bowl.

Falafel is a Lebanese takeaway / restaurant that has been open for about a couple of years.

Now, not knowing much (actually, make that anything) about Lebanese cuisine I hadn’t realised that ‘Falafel’ is actually the name of a dish (and not just the name of the restaurant).

The first time I visited the premises, on entering, I was greeted by one of the friendliest restaurateurs in the area. Clearly passionate about Lebanese food, he proceeded to give me an explanation of all dishes on offer, and gave me a free falafel which was extremely tasty.

Since then I’ve had falafel sandwiches, spicy lamb meatballs, vegetable curry and a kind of chicken stew (apologies for not remembering the Lebanese names for the dishes I’ve had). Each time the food has been excellent – really tasty and filling. There are also ‘standard’ kebabs on offer.

The premises itself is of the no frills variety – very basic but clean. It suits itself more to a quick bite than a sit down meal, and Falafel tends to cater more for take-away custom. The food is relatively cheap (the aforementioned meatballs and rice cost around £4.95). The combination of decent well priced food makes Falafel popular with students and local workers who want food that is clearly a cut above the usual fast food dross but at a reasonable price. Falafel seems to be a success which is good to see because (1) it means more variety of good food in the locale and (2) because the business owner is a nice guy.

Highly recommended.

p.s.

You must try the carrot and apple juice smoothy!!

My search for the best falafels in town has come to an end. Falafel is a relatively newly opened Lebanese restaurant and takeaway in the busy part of Camberwell Church Street, and I happened upon it quite by chance a few weeks ago when I was playing a gig at The Marlborough, a nearby pub.

My set time was pushed back by an hour and a half and I hadn’t had time to eat before leaving the house, so I loads of time to wander along the street trying to find something filling enough to give me energy but light enough that I’d still be able to sing! Falafel was the answer, I decided, and Falafel was the first place I came across as I made my way back towards Camberwell Green.

The man behind the counter was very friendly and chatty and gave me a piece of falafel to try out while I waited for mine to be cooked. I was very pleased - it was delicious. Crunchier and less greasy than any falafel I’d ever tried before, and much more flavoursome. To make conversation I mentioned how nice the tabbouleh salad looked, and he only went and gave me some to take with me as a little present! I’m happy to say my takeaway falafels were just as good as the little tester, and not only were they nice and light, but the whole thing was wrapped in such a way that it was actually eatable on the move. I don’t know what wraps they use but they’re far superior to the standard pittas that get soggy and collapse straight away, and the salad was all wrapped up nicely with it as well instead of piled on top of everything else as usual.

In short - the falafel sandwich was awesome, and there was lots more on the menu including vegetable curry, the aforementioned tabbouleh, halloumi dishes and more. There are tables and chairs in the restaurant too, so you don’t have to walk down the street chomping your dinner.

I walked by Falafel again about a week after my delightful falafel but had just eaten dinner, unfortunately, so I didn’t go in. My friend from behind the counter was standing at the doorway though and as he spied me held out one of his taster falafels for me to grab as I went by. That’s the sort of mobile snackage I’m talking about!