Shuki & Louisa Very Good Falafel
with guest blogger Amy
Instagram is dangerous. It preaches perfection: perfectly runny yolks (hashtag eggporn), perfectly messy post workout top-knots (hashtag fitspo), perfectly pouted lips (hashtag makeupfreefriday), perfect sun drenched beaches (hashtag fromwhereyoudratherbe) and otherwise perfect lies— oops! I meant lives. Instagram is not only full of only the highlights of our existence but these are also filtered and edited beyond recognition and reality.
I’m not making any judgements- I am a big fan of Insta, I love scrolling mindlessly through my feed and seeing all the delicious food, divine holiday destinations and my lovely friends’ latest updates on their lives— and I love posting my own. I post #workoutselfies and #foodporn with the best of them but I want to be clear, my Instagram is not my entire life and the bits I post are the highlight reel.
Instagram is also dangerous because it makes me want to spend much too much money and drive far out of my way to find something that promises to be good. You already know how passionate I get about things (beetroot, buckwheat… Bloom) and so it really shouldn’t surprise you that I would be willing to drive an hour to get falafels when an Instagram post informs me that the best falafel makers in Melbourne have opened their very own shop.
Shuki and Louisa are two friends who sell their Very Good Falafel at markets all across Melbourne and I stumbled across their delicious dips and flavour filled falafel at my local farmer’s market last year. When it was announced via the afore discussed app that these two lovely people were moving into a little shop on Sydney Road, I knew I had to get there as soon as possible.
Luckily, I have a fellow-falafel obsessed friend who was also in fits of excitement regarding this new opening and it was her birthday today! So, we trooped off to Brunswick and were soon rewarded with a plethora of options. Falafels are just the beginning at their new store, served in either the pita pocket I fell in love with or plate style with all the fixings. They also serve Sibeh (an eggplant and potato dish) and Ktzizot (a lamb kofte dish) along with salad plates, babaganous, hummus and a traditional sweet dish.
Sarah and I chose to have the salad plate with 3 falafels and a Sibeh plate between us.
It had been a while since the last time for either of us and these two dishes absolutely lived up to our remembered expectations. The eggplant melted in our mouths and the salads were fresh, interesting and vibrant. Our empty plates were testament to the care this pair put into their food.
Now, I’m a fan of Middle Eastern food; I love the flavours, the stories and the cooking methods, so I enjoy most falafels. But these ones? They were crispy, light and bursting with the flavours I adore.
The pita was fluffy and soaked up the divine sauces that complimented the fresh salad and homemade pickles excellently.
Shuki and Louisa themselves, like two excited school children, were absolutely beaming as they rushed about their new home and delightedly explained the new options we had to choose from. This shop, like their market stalls, are truly a labour of love for them and this passion shone through their food, friendliness and the beautiful shop itself.
Instagram may cloud our view of reality with a rose-tinted haze a lot of the time, but some places really deliver on their promise. Shuki and Luisa’s Very Good Falafel is one of those. What you see is what you get and what you taste will force you to agree that their pitas and plates hashtag neednofilter.
Happy Eating.
Amy
Shuki & Louisa Very Good Falafel
629 Sydney Rd, Brunswick.
Eat My Street is a website dedicated to good food for the good life in Melbourne and beyond. Amy is one of our guest bloggers and she has a great focus on healthy cooking and dining. You can read more from Amy here. Otherwise please visit us on Facebook or sign up to never miss a post. Or if you are a passionate foodie, join our new Eat My Street Cooking Club.