Paddington Lunch Box

Tag: food truck

  • Simply Falafel

    Simply Falafel

    Out of my comfort zone and back in the office.

    Out of my comfort zone and eating…falafel. At Simply Falafel.

    What even is falafel?

    Deep fried balls of ground chickpeas with herbs. Very vegan, and sounds as fun as being a vegan (with kind regards to my zero vegan readers).

    If I was going to try the famous (with my vegan colleague) falafel then it had to be the traditional falafel wrap – none of this modern halloumi nonsense.

    Plus only £8.00 which is quite a bargain.

    It’s not the most attractive thing to photograph – the wrap itself was pleasingly crispy, the whole thing was well-structured with a generous amount of filling.

    Overall the falafel was a bit dry, I assume falafel is dry – dried chickpeas doesn’t scream “juicy” to me, so this isn’t aimed at Simply Falafel, just the concept.

    I enjoyed the herby nature, the salad (especially the tomatoes) added some freshness, there wasn’t enough sriracha chilli to give it much of a kick – the tahini sauce probably added to the dryness, and personally I would opt out of the tahini if there was a next time.

    And add halloumi. Or something.

    But I quite enjoyed it. This was never going to get an especially high rating, being so far out of my comfort zone – it’s like asking me to rate my commute. 6.9 out of 10 feels ok though. Do go if you are into falafel.

  • Katsu King

    Katsu King

    I was wondering why I got to work so smoothly the week before…it was half-term, of course.

    Not so this week, of course, with delays every step of the way.

    But it was the first sunny day of spring (well, winter) so who cares. Everyone happy. Everything good. Even office. Maybe.

    Given the sunshine, I decided to eat outdoors at Katsu King – one of the food trucks on the Paddington Basin canal.

    For my tastes, it was a choice between katsu salad or katsu fries, so I went for the slightly healthier option.

    The salad was a mixture of salad leaves and grated cabbage – it added crunch but nothing else.

    The crispy chicken wasn’t so crispy with the katsu sauce on – the sauce kind of reminded me of the taste of gravy, though neither of these should be considered a criticism.

    Indeed, the chicken was really nicely fried, where there was no sauce, the crumb was crunchy, and satisfying.

    Some sriracha sauce on top – not especially hot or spicy, and some coriander gave it some fragrance.

    Priced at £9.50. Pretty decent, I’d say. Katsu King is worth a whirl.

    My score of 7.20.

    And then a bird shat on me. Bring back the rain and indoor dining.

  • Hola Guacamole

    Hola Guacamole

    Hola Guacamole! It was time to head into the office once more to try to avoid punishment beatings from the CCCP.

    This time my underwhelming lunch was at Hola Guacamole, one of the food stalls near M&S.

    Hola Guacamole menu

    It looked like they were having a good time, pumping out tacos and burritos to a soundtrack of pumping hard dance music. I kind of wanted to pop some pills and go clubbing…aye any excuse to escape the office. 😱😉

    Not the prettiest thing to eat or photograph, I ordered the pork pibil burrito at £9.00.

    I was concerned when she wrapped it twice…but it was so moist and messy it needed it. In hindsight I should have ordered the chicken.

    Otherwise it was respectable, a little warm spiciness, tender pork, soggy burrito. Beans, lettuce and tomato all as expected.

    Crap photo of the inside of a burrito

    A colleague had the mixed tacos, and was also fairly satisfied yet underwhelmed. Chicken was his favourite of the 3.

    A score of 6.4 out of 10. Maybe try the chicken if you fancy going…it’s reasonable but it ain’t like a burrito in California.