falafels

On my way home today I stopped by the Falafel shop I had seen for over a year now, always wanted to try but just never did. But my stomach was rumbling and the idea of all the falafel and veggies made me stop in.

Not at all like the mad rush of falafel stands in the Marais (Paris) this one just had one older man and his son (?) working. They were very nice and I think very excited to have a customer in their empty restaurant. I placed my order, 1 falafel to go and waited for the homemade bread to be warmed and the chickpea balls to be fried. Then unexpectedly he gave me a half-full pita and told me that I was to make myself at home and fill it with whatever toppings I wanted! So I piled on red cabbage, marinated mushrooms, sliced beets as well as other unrecognizable veggies to finally top it all off with the mystery sauce blanche.

The owner was very chatty and wanted to know if it was my first time coming into the restaurant, if I'd tried falafels before etc. It was nice to have that little chit chat this time, he seemed genuinely curious and also very proud of his food "my homemade bread is the best, that is why people are always coming back" :-) I also liked it that the first question out of his mouth wasn't "where are you from?" I do live here now and its always nice when people seem aware of that, even if I do have an accent.