L'As du Falafel.
Where Lenny eats Falafel.
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Photo: L'As du Falafel |
On one of my strolls through Paris, I ended up at the Marais in front of a falafel place. Well, ended up is perhaps not the right word, since I had consciously headed for Paris’ charming Jewish Quarter but only by chance ended up eating the best falafel ever.
I’m talking about L’As du Falafel, which is essentially a small place with a walk-up window, behind which a nice enough guy fries hummus balls and stuffs fluffy pitas with salad. In fact, what intrigued me to buy his product was – apart from the many people lining up to get their falafel fix – a framed picture of Lenny Kravitz and the claim that this was in fact Lenny’s favourite falafel place. Lenny must know, I thought. And he did. Numerous visits followed after my initiation to falafel heaven and never was I disappointed with the Ace’s fried hummus balls and fresh salad in a toasted pita.
One day though, I could not help but notice that right across from L’As du Falafel was another falafel vendor. They were, sorry to say, largely ignored by the crowds queuing for Lenny’s place, although the competitors were busy handing out free samples of their good. A little comparison could not hurt, right?
Well, I ended up trying their falafel. Since after all there was the fair possibility, that Lenny could have been randomly attracted to L’As du Falafel simply because of the green façade or something and then out of convenience he might have stuck to it. Or even worse, he might have gone there only once and now the owner boasts himself with it forever. After I devoured the competition’s falafel, however, I was sure Lenny Kravitz had chosen the As du Falafel consciously as his Parisian Falafel vendor of choice. The other falafel was tasty enough but simply not the same.
Now, however, I had to read on the internet that some other pilgrims to the Ace have found themselves in front of a closed window. What happened? I was a bit shocked. Hopefully, L’As du Falafel is still up and running when I’ll be back in Paris.
A falafel costs you about €4 or €5 and L’As has other Middle East specialties, too.
L'As du Falafel
34 Rue des Rosiers
Le Marais
75004 Paris
Phone: 01 48 87 63 60