A London Lunch No. 9: Pilpel – Falafel heaven

A friend and fellow blogger Leila of Swallower of Lives introduced me to Pilpel last summer and I really should thank her for that!

Falafel and hummus are the stars of the show here – it’s a great example of sticking to a small selection of lunch options and executing them very, very well.

You can either opt for a filled pitta or my preference which is a container, filled with your choice of salads, dressings and either hummus or falafel, or if you are anything like me, both.

The salads include everything from cucumber, pickled cabbage, tomatoes, feta and those Middle-Eastern staples of chickpeas, tabbouleh and an irresistible smoked aubergine that I’ve never tried outside of Pilpel which is frankly divine.

The falafels themselves are fantastic – crispy and with crunch on the outside, but moist on the inside and filled with flavour. The hummus is immense – hence why I never opt for the either/or situation – it just has to be both. They also offer guacamole if you fancy mixing it up as well as labneh which is also incredibly moreish but my preference is a good drizzle of tahini and some chilli sauce for a bit of fire.

Pitta comes with the container option and believe me that it’s always a very filling and satisfying lunch.

Everything is priced around the £5.00 mark so it offers good value for money in the centre of the city too – a definite lunch recommendation.

The Pilpel I visited is located on Brushfield Street just off of Spitalfields Market but has another concession inside the market, as well as a branch at St Pauls.