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NYC Food Truck Lunch: Soup and Falafel From Moshe's Falafel

Perry, the founder of New York Street Food, brings you his latest review on New York City street food.

This week's lunch is one of the old standby's in midtown, Moshe's Falafel. They have parked on the SE corner of 46th St & 6th Ave for many years, and every now and then, we stop by to check in.

The menu doesn't change at Moshe's, with most people getting a falafel sandwich, as we did back in April 2012. In order to try something new, we ordered soup for $5.25 and "six falafel and pickles", which cost $3.75, for a grand total of $9. There was a choice of three soups: lentil, vegetable and, in a flashback to our childhood, mushroom barley.

Moshe's Falafel is both kosher and vegetarian. A good part of their business comes from the Diamond District on 47th St, but there are plenty of non-kosher people and carnivores (like us) who just like their food.

Although we ordered "six falafel and pickles", we ended up with eight falafel balls for the same price. Right after ordering, they handed us a free falafel to eat to "hold us" the entire two minutes it took them to fill the order. Then the server (intentionally) gave us seven falafel in the order instead of six. Guess they wanted us to come back soon.

Moshe's falafel were hot and fresh, but there weren't a lot of herbs. The falafel could have used some greenery like parsley or cilantro. We really liked the coating, which was light and flaky. It was somewhat reminiscent of panko.

The falafel came with tahini sauce and hot sauce on the side. The tahini sauce was thick and had a strong sesame flavor, which we love. Dipping the falafel balls into the tahini sauce added a lot of flavor. With the falafel being so lightly seasoned, a dip into tahini and then a little hot sauce was the way to go.

mushroom-barley-soup-from-moshes-falafel
(credit: Perry R.)

We grew up eating mushroom barley soup on a regular basis, but there was always beef brisket in it. This soup didn't have any meat, but it was loaded with ingredients such as potatoes, onions, celery, and of course, mushrooms and barley. There were plenty of mushrooms, which gave the soup a nice umami flavor.

The soup filled up a pint container and came with half a pita bread. This alone might be enough for some people for lunch, if you don't have a large appetite. If not, you can add falafel balls and still keep your lunch tab under $10.

Moshe's Falafel has a Twitter page and a Facebook page, but neither appears to have been updated in at least three years. No matter. All you need to know is Moshe's Falafel is on the SE corner of 46th St & 6th Ave every weekday for lunch, except on Jewish holidays. We say, falafel for all!

 

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