Falafel Place - Fun Tasty Middle Eastern

With my new rotation I have found a sudden wealth of free time during the daytime when I previously had spent it in the hospital. Coincidentally co-ensiding with the onset of spring means more reasons to dine out and continue with my tour of the Winnipeg eateries. One of those I had always meant to try was Falafel Place. Initially introduced by a medical student I was working with, I was told of their legendary breakfast and brunch options centering on ... what else ... their falafels. Heralded in the community, a quick peak at Urbanspoon also revealed mostly positive reviews and delectable pictures from previous diners. Well that's certainly enough for me! So on a wonderful post-call day I grabbed a fellow resident for a quick bite at Falafel Place.

Fun, zany and eclectic are only the beginning of the definitions for Falafel Place. Located on the corner of Corydon and Wilton Avenue, this busy restaurant is a beautiful marriage of hipster culture with excellent food. My initial impression was that of the cacophony of noise that greeted me from the filled-to-the-brim restaurant. The service staff beckons you forward to a empty table with a quick nod and a large smile; another quickly brings you a menu and off you go.

The menu is mostly Western Brunch and Breakfast diner options. Patrons have the option between a number of meats including Salami, Montreal Smoked Beef and Corned Beef and can combine them with any combination of eggs, omelets, toast or pancakes. A deeper perusal, however, reveals their Middle Eastern origins with Falafel taking up a significant portion of their vegetarian and vegan options. Standard fare like Tabouli and Bubba Ghanoush also take prominence in their menu. Definitely something there for everybody, but for a place called Falafel Place, we had to go with their falafel and Middle Eastern fare.

The Shwarma Platter was a huge mixture of tender grill top warmed shwarma (lamb) served on a bed of couscous and a salad on the side. While the initial presentation is lacking, the food more than makes up for it with tender, juicy and moist lamb that went well with the accompanied tart garlic sauce. Finishing the lamb on the grill top gave it a nice crispy charred exterior. The accompanied couscous and salad were nothing special and as you would expect.

Of course we had go go with the Falafel Breakfast. Here, eight large balls of the fried chickpea are accompanied with two eggs (done any way you like) and a bounty of hash browns. Enveloping the beautiful balls of fried falafel are a healthy portion of tahini and hummus. Words cannot describe how deliciously tender the falafel was with its crisp exterior but extremely tender and moist interior. But truly it was the interplay between the soft undertones of the falafel with the sharp tahini and smooth hummus that made this dish work. The eggs and hash browns are there merely as breakfast add-ons but in truth does little to add to the dish.

Falafel Place is a fun and zany restaurant that should appeal to anyone in the mood for breakfast, especially those in the area. Their falafels wonderfully crisp and tasty, the shwarma tender and moist, they have successful married Middle Eastern flavours and recipes into traditional Western breakfast and brunch food, despite their lazy presentation of the food. An instant recommendation.