King of Falafel

Wow… the falafel was delicious and it was done so speedily!
I ordered a falafel on plain bread (other options are sun-​dried tomato and spinach) and got EVERYTHING on there! I love that they add zaatar to the sandwich, it gave it an extra kick of flavour. The falafel sandwich was then grilled and handed over.
I ate it about 3 hours ago and I am still stuffed. Amazing value for excellent food.

I’ll be honest: I wanted to love King of Falafel a lot more than I did. £3.85 for more food than one should consume at a time and a bottle of water is actually a great deal, but the actual experience was a bit ho hum.
I could have walked from here all the way down to St. Paul’s and back for a hugely filling falafel pita from Pilpel in the same amount of time it took for the lovely fellow behind the counter to make, wrap, and toast up my very basic Lebanese falafel. Sure, I would have paid nearly twice as much, but I’d have been biting into my meal far sooner. Plus, Pilpel’s falafel is packed full of a much larger and tastier variety of salads.
In a pinch, King of Falafel is perfectly fine. And if you’re on a budget, looking for some cheap eats, you really can’t go wrong. Leather Lane does have more enticing options to offer, though. If you can stretch by another pound or two, your taste buds will be much happier with you.

casual farringdon lunch with Kevin L and Sherwills today! Went for the original lebanese falafel wrap and it was really nice, It wasn’t perfect, the falafel wasn’t evenly distributed so I just ate through half a salad wrap before the falafel. But I can see why they’re so busy, queues even at 2pm! Good amount of sauce and wrap!
If you’re looking for lunch on the go, seriously, try this!

Luckily I got here early before the queue really kicked in. Waited a bit with major anticipation about the falafel I was hoping would rock my world. It was close, but no cigar…
On the positive side, I liked the wrap they used (sometimes places use thick almost stale pita), I liked that the salad especially the tomatoes were seasoned and dressed, and it was stuffed to the max.
The sandwich was a bit overwhelmed with harissa and yogurt sauce (whereas I prefer a falafel where tahini dominates).
So the quest continues for the best falafel, but if you are in the area I wouldn’t necessarily pass this place up for the massive falafel for 3.25!

J’ai un peu honte de l’avouer mais ce jour là, j’ai mangé le premier falafel de ma vie ! J’ai suivi le groupe à travers ce petit marché et nous sommes allé sur les conseils d’un connaisseur, dans ce petit snack qui n’a l’air de rien. Un vieux monsieur assis sur une chaise observe dans un coin le balais des clients de midi qui forment une file jusqu’à l’extérieur de la boutique. Ici les vendeurs vous servent du «darling» à toutes les sauces, et c’est plutôt charmant !
Une fois à l’intérieur de l’échoppe on se rend compte qu’une partie est effectivement un snack mais sur le mur en face, c’est une sorte d’épicerie orientale. Pas de déco superflu, il n’y a pas de table, il faut emporter et se trouver un banc, ou retourner au bureau ! Les falafels sont préparés minute devant le client, avec une dextérité qui laisse supposer que l’endroit tourne bien et qu’il est réputé !
Côté goût tout y était. C’était un poil trop épicé à mon goût toutefois j’ai pris plaisir à manger mon falafel. A vrai dire je né sais pas exactement lequel c’était, parce qu’on a commandé pour moi (j’ai dû faire preuve d’une confiance aveugle puisque c’était une grande première). Et depuis, j’ai envie de manger d’autres falafels ! La prochaine fois je prendrai une chaise pour déjeuner à côté du vieux monsieur… peut-​être me racontera t il sa vie, qui sait?

This guy is THE KING of falafel. Don’t question the name, it’s a fact and not an opinion. I feel like he should be wearing a crown as his lighting fast hands work on 20 orders at once. Yes, that’s right folks, 20 orders… I do not exaggerate here.
The King will shout down the line «NEXT» and you’ll holler back your order. He’ll then slap down a bread and get the next order taken. You’ll request your meat and salad and sauce and he remembers it all. There will be giggles and a buzz of excitement from the regulars who watch the master work. It’s a show, a fabulous show that so many local workers seem to enjoy.
Don’t be confused by the random rubbish on the shelves in the shop, get straight in that line and shout your order. The King is waiting!

Sometimes the best lunch places are the most unexpected. Sarah’s food store is gross… seriously it is not a clean store. Some shelves are bare whereas others are filled with a collection of lentils. It always seems to be under renovation. Yet there is a massive queue of people trying to get inside. Why you ask? Well hidden (not too hidden) inside Sara’s is the King of Falafel, arguably the best Falafel in this part of London. Expect a huge, tasty, and spicy (if you choose) wrap for just over 3 pounds. They are so good, I want to go there for lunch now!

My new favourite lunch place!
I’ve tried the falafel wrap and the chicken-​wrap. Both are very tasty — I’m loving the sweet and cinammony flavour of the falafel sandwich.
If they have it, I’d definitely go for the Moroccan wrap as it gives some extra-​flavour to the whole experience… What I especially like about the sandwiches/​wraps here, is that they are juicy and full of flavour — in fact, the ingredients themselves, like the salad, are already dressed and marinated before they go into the wrap, which gives it that extra flavour!
Further, I love the way they’re doing business here: it’s a little counter within a corner store. At peak times there are up to three people helping to serve the lunch crowd and not once did I see them unhappy! They’re always nice and always very enthusiastic about their food!
Plus: the price is simply unbeatable…3.75 for quite a large wrap

Honestly, half of the points they get here are based on personality. And that’s a good thing. The store claims the title of first falafel on leather lane, from the oldest city in the world. The king of falafel resides, and if you don’t order fast enough, he will pick what’s going on your sandwich. «Falafel? Falafel! Onions? Everybody is getting onions. Just the way home cooking should be, alongside his wife, he will prepare about 10 different wraps at the same time, going down the line at rapid speed, so be prepared. Stand in the line, which will be out the door during lunch, I promise it won’t be long. Actually, I promise nothing, other than you will be satisfied with your falafel, shwarma, or a couple of other options served with flair and a good amount of sauce. A real experience. Enjoy!

I have truly uncovered the Holy Grail of Falafel outlets here… Sara’s Food Store looks pretty innocuous from the outside, but if you venture inside there is a huge sign proclaiming that this store is where the KING OF FALAFEL’s resides. And they are not even kidding! I waited excitedly in the queue to see if this place lived up to it’s claims and asked for a falafel. Then the magic began… The ‘King’ unrolled some beautiful flatbread and began furnishing it with a variety of salads, sauces, spices and the falafels themselves, he then crushed it all up with a big masher and popped it under the grill. He did take me through all the ingredients, but I felt like Ron Weasley in a potions class, confused by the many exotically named ingredients he was calling out!
I handed over my £3.25 (very cheap if you ask me) and hurried to get back to my desk and unwrap the little fella! And there it was, the taste hit me like a Ray Gun to the brain! The freshest, spiciest, tangiest taste sensation that has ever entered my face area!
I will be back to sample more of the falafel king’s delights, maybe tomorrow, who knows!
Anyone who doesn’t think this is a 5 star establishment is clearly mental, or orally impared and shouldn’t be trusted!

Seeing a queue of people snaking out the door of Sara’s Food Store, waiting for their turn at the falafel counter of kings (apparently), I joined it.
As the good resident of Britain that I am.
I’ll admit, watching the King himself assembling a line of 15 falafel wraps ostentatiously whilst simultaneously interacting with the crowd of people waiting for their respective falafels was great fun.
The first time around.
Because, you see, my falafel wasn’t in that first batch. I had to wait for the King of Falafel to finish assembling all 15 falafel wraps of the patrons in the queue ahead of me before it was my turn to get my falafel wrap on the assembly line. The entire process from start to finish took at least 15 minutes. 15 minutes are very precious to me when they’re coming out of my lunch hour.
So I finally got my falafel wrap, and I handed over my £3.25. I took my first ravenous bite (I mean, I HAD just been watching falafels being made for 15 minutes; I had begun salivating like the pavlovian being that I am)…
Meh.
I can’t complain, because I received a pretty epic amount of food for a mere £3.25, but this was far from a taste explosion. And there was a lot of microwaving going on. That’s all I’m saying.
King of falafel? No.
Prince of falafel? Not likely.
Baron of falafel? Possibly.

This is a North African grocers, come corner shop, albeit not on a corner, the like of which you have no doubt passed many times and not given a second look.
I passed by the open double doors at about 12:05 yesterday lunchtime and saw a Falafel counter, passing back about 5 minutes later I saw a queue of a dozen or so had formed and made a mental note to give it a try.
So, as I’m in that part of the City this week, I nipped in, queued up and… OMFG these are good.
While you are still queueing, they take your order, which will be either falafel on on various salady things resting on either a Lebanese or Moroccan flat flatbread-​tortilla thing. There are several layers of salady stuff, four or five different sauce type ingredients which are then rolled up and baked for a couple of minutes in a panini grill. While I was there I heard the other people talking about how great these things were.
I’ll be in this part of town until the end of the week, three more days, three more falafel wraps I think. I have been eating falafel for years, but I have never been passionate about it. I am now!