Falafel in strange places

So we moved house, just in time to welcome our new arrival into the world. If he ever appears that is, he seems to enjoy being wedged in between my ribs and lungs whilst simultaneously pressing on my bladder too much to ever want to leave. He’s like an enormous octopus, punching and kicking me continuously (love you). Needless to say, pregnancy does not suit me – I look like a cross between Father Christmas and Mr Blobby.

Luckily, just down the road from our new ‘forever home’, I have discovered a cafe which does a vegan breakfast that comes with falafel rather than sausages! It’s almost too good to be true. As I tucked into the huge feast with a good friend the other day, I half expected a well-meaning person (aka, knobhead) to tell me that I should be avoiding chickpeas when pregnant as it’s bad for the baby. I should instead be living off water and the delightful glow of bringing a new life into the world. It’s amazing how many people like to shout completely unsolicited advice at you when you are pregnant, along with general criticisms and comments, often focussed on telling you what not to do.

The breakfast falafel was actually surprisingly tasty, fried and green in colour and only slightly dry. It was a good breakfast – I had assumed it would be just a little bit crap – but I was pleasantly surprised. Most things and people annoy me these days so this is actually a good review, given the circumstances. That very week I also sampled the Goodfella’s Falafel Pizza for the first time as well, fancying a ‘falafel in strange places’ sort of week. It would have been better if our oven actually got hot enough to cook a frozen pizza, but all in all, it wasn’t that bad. (For a more comprehensive review from earlier in the year, see Mz J’s review here.)

Because of my wildly changing moods, I decided that I needed to go back to the breakfast falafel cafe (ABBIE’S) for a second time to really make a decision on the falafel there and to get more opinions. So I left my confinement to waddle down the hill again to sample another vegan breakfast. This time, everyone was in agreement. The falafel was great! Not too crumbly, nicely fried, good texture – we all loved it. A pleasant change from the normal veggie sausages you get with a cafe breakfast, and not too overpriced at £6.50 including a hot drink. There were some other general criticisms of the cafe – some of my friends were offended by the selection of mugs on offer, described as ‘rejects from other people’s mug collections’ by one. We also questioned the need for 2 different types of potatoes and bread- it could have done with more beans to soak up the carbs. Naturally, we all ate it all, anyway, so you know, whatever.

Inebriation – disgustingly and relentlessly sober 0/5

Bread- standard sliced brown first time, white loaf second – 3/5

Salad – some sad looking spinach, mushrooms and grilled tomatoes 3/5

Falafel itself – 4/5 (pretty good for a cafe, but not to a Turkish/Lebanese standard)

All in all 3.5/5 – good overall score for ABBIE’S of St Anne’s, Bristol.

The next falafel review will undoubtedly take place post-baby. Let’s just hope he likes falafel!