Search This Blog

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Random Eating

Today, one of my usual dining companions and I decided this was a good day to grab a late lunch and maybe blow off a few rounds at some harmless paper dots that did nothing to warrant the violence, well, except for being paper dots. Which maybe is enough, I can't judge that. I can, however form opinions about falafel! And as we set out to dine at a Filipino restaurant that came highly recommended, we met and discovered that it was closed, as was the second Filipino place we went to, we were to be denied crispy skin pork. So we parked and determined we would walk until something was found. Barely 100 feet and we discovered the Mid-East Halal Meat and Restaurant.

To call this place a restaurant was to grant it some leeway, as there were just a few tables, in the middle of a meat market, with goats and lambs and such being carried by. But, we ordered lamb and beef shwarma plates and we got this...
That is a plate piled with lamb and beef, pickles, hummus, rice and tabouleh along with a falafel and some harissa. Then there was a couple slices of Jerusalem bread and a plate of Ful that was offered for free since we asked for a taste. This was an ample serving and while eating it, it kept occurring to me that each item alone would be terrific. This was some very good food we discovered by just walking and looking for something. I love discoveries like this.

One of the things I liked about this was that while prepared inside on restaurant equipment, it was street food and had the distinct feel of something that is meant as everyman's food, something for the masses meant for a grab and go. And yet, the guy serving it to us served it with a great deal of pride, he knew he was serving good food.

2 comments:

  1. That is a plate of wonderful magic right there my friend. What's Ful?

    -Odin (Ray)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ful is a stew of beans, essentially, Ful means beans in Egyptian. It is lima beans cooked until very soft and usually served with olive oil, sesame seeds or tahini, some meat occasionally. It is a staple breakfast throughout the Levant.

    ReplyDelete