Maoz / Hatton Garden — Restaurant in London

Somehow having an office within walking distance to Soho and Covent Garden I still get panic attacks on what I should be having for lunch every day. Luckily the choices are numerous and I am making it my mission in life to try out 2 or 3 joints per week and I believe this task will be a neverending story considering how fast some places come and go in this area.

A few doors down from Biju bubble tea shop is this falafel place, which is surprisingly filled with people for lunch. When people mention lunch falafel is certainly not on my list of eats, but hey, on with the food!

The cheapest item on the menu is a falafel wrap which has 4 falafels, salads that they put in for you in a wrap for £6.50. You can get a pitta which is £7.50 but you can add more salad at the salad bar. Fancy hot fried chips? Another £2 please. There is a box deal where you can make one trip to the salad bar.

They make the wrap in front of you so you can see just how much lettuce, tomatoes, beetroot etc is in your meal and wow was that a healthy lunch or what? The salad ingredients are very very fresh. The falafel balls look pretty small but they are seasoned well and very crunchy. My lament is that the wrap was not heated so the only "hot" thing about this wrap are the semi warm falafels. The way they layer the veg as well means that one bite might consist only of lettuce and another bite only beetroot, which is hilarious.

If you eat in the place is quite small with some seating, so it runs out of seating fast. I would just take away my meals and eat in the comfort somewhere else.

Not bad all in all, but not somewhere that I am so amazed with that I will come back all the time. It is a bit on the expensive side (I could have a complete set lunch at one of the Japanese restaurants...

So Maoz has opened a new location in Soho, just around the corner (address TBA!).

Same great place, same great food. The menu is pretty much falafels with salad, either in Pita form (£4.40 takeaway, £5.40 eat in), or in a salad box (£5 takeaway, £6 eat in). Its so tasty that even meat eaters will trade in their burger for chickpeas!

I usually opt for the salad box, because you get to use the self serve salad bar, and top up your container with as much salad as you like! With the box, you get 5 falafels which are incredibly crispy on the outside, fresh and hot - and on the inside, its nice and moist, I think they mix it with couscous to make sure its not dry and mealy. You also get a 3'' round piece of wholewheat pita.

When you are served your falafels, you can top up with the following salads (that I can remember off the top of my head): couscous, tomatoe + onion, dill marinated cucumbers, chilled roasted carrots, pickled jalapeno peppers, coleslaw, red cabbage salad, raw mushroom salad, and deep fried cauliflower - my favorite! For an additional 50p, you could get a slab of feta cheese, hummous, aubergine, avocado, etc. You also get your choice of sauces (spicy, mild, fresh coriander sauce, garlic sauce, yogurt dip, etc) - excellent for giving your salad that extra kick!

This is a steal at £5 - the meal was healthy...

Tasty Falafel, confusing pricing, not best service. But still good food.

When I was heading to a gig I was looking for a quick snack and while searching for places in the area, I thought a falafel would be nice. So I decided to check Maoz Falafel on Old Compton Street. The interior of the little restaurant felt a bit cold despite the fact that they use thick and heavy wood for stools and chairs.

The place was not very busy, but when I was walking up to the counter, it took the few staff a bit before they actually started to serve me. Not the best customer experience, when your first impression is that staff ignore customers. After I completed my order, I was a bit surprised by the price - apparently a salad was added as default option. Not great, if you ask me, as I did not ask for it.

The falafel itself was delicious, I liked the crunchiness and the flavour. The feta cheese I had added was alright, but mainly stuffed into one end of the pitta which was not ideal.

Overall, I can recommend Maoz Falafel for the food, but you should make very clear what you want, and what you do not want to avoid...