All this for €7.50 at Umi Falafel
Much as deep-frying the humble potato turns it into the glorious chip, deep-frying wads of chickpeas and herbs turn them into falafel, a fantastic spectacular wonder food. It’s possible to get decent falafel in a few places around Dublin, but I always felt they weren’t getting the respect they deserve. So I was really pleased to see a new place opening in the city centre that is devoted to these golden balls of crunchy greatness.
Umi Falafel is on Dame St opposite the Olympia and serves falafel, salads and sides to eat in or take away. It’s early days but I’ve eaten there twice now, and I think I might love it. For a mere €7.50, you can get the falafel plate, which came with a little dish of olives to start, four falafel, a bowl of salad, flatbread, three dips and a drink.
Everything was great quality, tasty and really nicely presented. The place itself is lovely with a spacious and simple interior, and great graphics on the wall. The second time I was there, there was a couple of hiccups with the service, but it was completely understandable as it was so new, and the staff were very apologetic and nice about it.
Falafel sandwiches are €6, salads are €5.50 (and come with falafel in them) which is all great value, but the lunch deals are the real star on the menu. Oh Umi Falafel – don’t ever change.
Have you tried Umi Falafel? Any other tips for good Heavenly Chickpeas in Ireland?
Wednesday 4 December, 2013 at 7:24 pm
I thought they were great too. But a bit slow to take the order and to bring the food!
Thursday 5 December, 2013 at 1:58 pm
Aww man, they are soo good! I was in with them the week they opened and got chatting to them. Seriously cool and passionate lads. Definitely not getting enough attention.
Thursday 5 December, 2013 at 7:10 pm
Yeah I agreed – the food is good, if it ever arrives. They tend to struggle during the lunch crowd as the restaurant is divided up between take-away and sit-in customers.
Guess who suffers when they are rushed off their feet? 🙁 We waited over 45 minutes and 2 in our group didn’t get our food. But what was delivered was actually very tasty.
I will probably try it over the weekend when lunch is more dispersed over a few hours.
Falafel and Kebab in Temple Bar is quite good too!
Friday 6 December, 2013 at 12:18 pm
“They tend to struggle during the lunch crowd as the restaurant is divided up between take-away and sit-in customers.”
Right, they really need to fix this, perhaps with one or two sit down menu items that they can promise to serve instanto.
Thursday 6 March, 2014 at 12:19 am
They are idiots in there, all the sides are for 4 people and they are slow as a wet week.
Food is really good thought. That’s what really counts.
Saturday 8 March, 2014 at 2:42 pm
That’s kind of nasty to call them idiots Paul. I’ve got food a few times there recently and they were really quick both with takeout and with a sit down lunch; it looks to me like they’ve sorted out their service issues. About the sides – do you mean that they’re too big?