Mr Falafel | Part 2

Click here for part one.

I went to Mr Falafel a second time and didn't order any falafel.

It was a mistake, but I didn't feel too bummed about it – I only realised after finishing my Vegetable Cocktail Wrap (£3.50) that the wrap did not contain falafels, but I was absolutely satisfied by the wrap anyway.

The 'Vegetable Cocktail Wrap' was "served with fried florets of cauliflower and fried potatoes including fried aubergines, garlic sauce, lemon juice, and our usual pickles and sauces." Of course, due to the hungry state that I was in, I immediately assumed that there was going to be falafel in the wrap which did not state anything about containing falafels.

Nevertheless, the wrap was delicious, I really didn't mind not having falafels in it.

The flavours and spices were great – they danced around my mouth excitedly. The sauces oozed out of the warm, delicious Lebanese flatbread, and the vegetables were colourful and tasty.

Mr Falafel
New Shepherd's Bush Market 
11 Uxbridge Road, London, Greater London W12 8LH
Tel: 07798 906668
http://www.mrfalafel.co.uk/

Pho

Pho is a Vietnamese street-food franchise here in London, and if you perform a quick Google image search, the only thing you see are bowls of beef noodle soup, which is said to be their speciality.

The one I went to last weekend is situated in 'The Balcony' – a very glamorous food court with a wide variety of international cuisine – of Westfield's Shepherd's Bush.

I got a "Pho Xao Thit Ga" (£7.75) which are flat wok-fried noodles with peanuts, bean sprouts and greens, and pretty fierce chilli for England's standards. My noodles were meant to contain chicken and shrimp, but somehow they got lots of chicken into my noodles and no shrimp at all. Heck, I was hungry and didn't bother to request a change. (edit: There's an extra "Tom" suffix after the name of the dish if I wanted mine with prawns, which my sister probably missed out when ordering. Okay.)

The noodles were very tasty, and the ingredients were generous. The spiciness level was definitely above that of the average apprehensive-when-it-comes-to-spicy-Asian-food English person, but it was manageable for myself – my spiciness-tolerance-level isn't that high either.

My sister got the famed beef noodles. (edit: there are about 8 types of beef noodles on the menu and I don't know which one she got) I have no idea why the dish is the star of the menu, it really was nothing much. The beef balls were pretty good, but the soup was average. Maybe it's because I've had better ones from Southeast Asia itself, and that the dish is a rare treat in this part of the world?

I've never had much Vietnamese food anyway, but I'm going to start paying more attention to it. The contrasts of flavours in Vietnamese cuisine is slightly sharper than, although similar to, Thai food, which is quite delightful to the taste buds.

Pho
Ariel Way
London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
London W12
07824 662320

Mr Falafel

"The Best Palestinian Falafel" are some big words for a shop like this:

I'm sorry for the Google image

And the thing is I can't tell you whether those words ring true.

Because this little shop near Shepard's Bush Market stole my falafel virginity.

Apparently in Denmark they have falafel places everywhere which are frequented more than McDonald's. I know this because my Danish buddy Astrid told me so. And then my Portugese buddy Inês had a recommendation from her brother to try out Mr Falafel, so the hunt began.

Initially I thought we were getting kebabs with a fancy name but then Google told me that they were basically vegetarian Arabic meatballs, but I'm fine with that because Arabic food always turns out alright, and hummus is a perfect example of a food which can never go wrong.

For your reference

Anyway we took a 40 minute bus ride from Richmond to Ealing Broadway due to Mrs C's recommendation, plus the sun was out and we wanted to see stuff instead of being stuck underground listening to screeching train wheels. We enjoyed this for about 10 minutes before the clouds turned grey and the rain came in. Sigh.

It was then another agonizing train journey from Ealing Broadway to Shepard's Bush. Agonizing because it was almost 1pm and we were hungry kids.

Then there was the walk from Shepard's Bush Station to Shepard's Bush Market itself which was bloody cold and impended the risk of getting lost. I was the one with the smartphone so the pressure was on me to get us to our happy place.

By the time we found Mr Falafel we audibly rejoiced and poured into the warmth of the little, humble shop. We were greeted warmly by the chefs/cooks/falafel-makers/angels who took our order and made our wraps on the spot. I got a... Falafel & Ful Medames wrap (I had to look up their menu online to remember its name) which was "served with boiled and mashed broad beans flavoured with cumin, garlic and lemon juice," (£5) while the other two got a Supreme Falafel wrap "served with Hommous, tomatoes, fried aubergines, feta cheese, oilves, avocado and pomegranate syrup." (£5)

The wraps came and they were about the length of my forearm, but thicker in terms of width. The first thing we girls did was hold the warm paper-covered wrap in our icy palms, then subsequently to our numb cheeks. And of course the sigh was a reflex. The mashed broad beans in my wrap was just what I needed for that cold afternoon – it wasn't too mushy yet had a satisfying texture, much like having warm baby food. Except I don't remember how baby food tastes like, but I hope you know what I mean anyway. I can't tell for sure what was what in my wrap because the beans covered everything, and it was like one big yummy mess. But I'm sure the falafel tasted good. There was a perfect amount of veggies in the wrap as well, and the perfect kind. I've been a victim of onion overload in my Subway subs (well then I guess you can't blame the chefs, because you create your own sub after all...) but the pickles in this wrap were, although distinct, not too overbearing in its taste and fit in fine. The chilli was not too spicy yet not too mild, a good in-between level to add a little something to the wrap. (I guess this depends on the individual)

The Supreme Falafel wrap must've been good. (see end of paragraph before) I had a bite off both their wraps, and it was the feta cheese which stole my heart. It complimented all the tasty stuff so well, I think I rolled my eyes with happiness while I chewed. There's something about cheese in wraps which spells perfection. There's something about cheese which spells perfection.

On our last few bites, our eyes started to hover to the menu to select our next prey. Next time I'm getting a Falafel & Spicy Potatoes wrap, with additional feta cheese for 40p.

"See you," we yelled to the chefs as we stepped out into the bloody cold, "very very soon!"

Mr Falafel
New Shepherd's Bush Market 
11 Uxbridge Road, London, Greater London W12 8LH
Tel: 07798 906668
http://www.mrfalafel.co.uk/

By the way I apologize for the lack of pictures, the idea for this blog sparked only after getting home.

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