Mamoun's falafel in Hoboken, NJ

Did you notice that there are more and more restaurants proposing falafel as the main specialty? There is Maoz, Taim and Mamoun's falafel, Moishe's falafels. Yes, falafels are definitely good when well done, meaning for me: good chickpea taste (not too many breadcrumbs please), cooked all the way through, crunchy and not oily. People debate about the benefits of falafels. The pros:

• it is only chickpeas, no meat.
• low calories: 50 to 60 per ball.
• High in protein, iron and fiber.

The cons:

• it is deep fried.
• a falafel pita can contain up to 550 calories and 32 grams of fat.

Anyway, I love Middle Eastern food, falafel of course, but also Shawarma. So we tried few times Mamoun's falafel. They have several restaurants in the City and opened several months ago one in Hoboken. The flagship restaurant is in Greenwich Village: it was opened in 1971 and was the first falafel place in New York City, as well as one of the first Middle Easter restaurants in the US. I like their menu that offers dishes not only to meat lovers, but also vegetarian.

On the vegetarian side, I love their hummus (chickpea spread) and baba ganouj (eggplant spread). We tried the tabouleh, but I do not know if it is because they make it with bulgur, but I did not like it.

The falafel are good, but I had better. They are sometimes overcooked.

On the meat side, I love their shawarma and meat combo!

The lamb shawarma is delicious! The meat is usually tender and has this great grilled tasted combined with the strong taste of the lamb meat. You can have it in a plate or a pita. With salad and olives, it was perfect.

Last time, I chose the meat combo: I picked a sandwich with chicken kebob, falafel and olives. I loved it! The crunchiness of the falafel worked really well with the chicken that was quite moist.

Another thing to try there is the mint lemonade: it is so refreshing!

I like Mamoun's falafel. Their falafels are good, but I would not name them the best though!

Enjoy (I did)!