After eating at the King of Falafel food cart in Manhattan, I felt like I’d won the lotto.
Man, the Falafel and Shawarma are that good here.
Food carts and food trucks are dime a dozen in Manhattan but King of Falafel is one of the rare carts that has people waiting in line.
And you know harried, rushed New Yorkers don’t stand in line unless the value is real good.
Recent Entrant to Manhattan
King of Falafel has been a fixture in Astoria (Queen’s) since 2002 but the Manhattan location came up only in March this year.
When I stopped by the King of Falafel (E.53rd St and Park Ave) on a hot afternoon recently, there was, of course, the ubiquitous line.
There were three people working at the cart: Fares “Freddy” Zeidaies and two assistants.
In a nice gesture, one of the assistants came by offering free Falafel balls to make the wait less tiresome in the oppressive heat.
After a quick scan at the menu on the side of the cart, I ordered a Vegetable Falafel Platter ($6) for my buddy and an Everything Platter (Mix Shawarma and Falafel for myself).
King of Falafel NYC Menu
It took another six minutes for my box to be ready.
In the meantime, I kept myself busy taking pictures and observing others in the line.
Most of the folks behind me had the air of regulars and they reeled off their orders without a glance at the menu.
When my boxes were ready, I asked for White Sauce and Hot Sauce on both items.
King of Falafel at Work
Fares Adds Final Touches to My Everything platter
Everything Platter
Falafel boxes in hand, we quickly headed over to the seating area behind the cart (adjacent to the Casa Lever restaurant).
The Everything Platter had three Falafel balls, salad and Shawarma (mix meat grilled on a spit).
After the first spoon, I was in ecstasy!
King of Falafel $7 Everything Platter
Can street food be this good, I asked myself in amazement.
The fresh falafel balls were crisp outside and had a nice flavorful texture inside.
And the Shawarma provided me glimpses of heaven.
It was that good. The grilled mix meat (chicken and lamb) was non pareil.
There was a small pita bread roll too, neatly wrapped in a foil.
Vegetable Falafel Platter
There were five crisp Falafel balls with a salad of lettuce, tomato, onion, pickled zuchini and pickled radish.
Deeelicious!
Let me warn you though that red-colored hot sauce is extremely hot.
My buddy, no stranger to hot, spicy food, was repeatedly reaching for my cold can of Diet Coke.
King of Falafel $6 Falafel Vegetable Platter
Soon the heat got to us. We couldn’t finish the platters and took them home.
The thing about the King of Falafel platters is that several hours after I got them, they still tasted very good. Rarely does food taste good after six hours in summer.
The Manhattan outpost of King of Falafel is open Mon-Fri from 11AM-3PM.
Unless you’re a masochist bent on depriving yourself of delicious cheap food, you’d visit the King of Falafel, and often.
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