London vegan news, reviews & events
Vegan-friendly fast food chain Just Falafel is not having a good run.
First of all the Covent Garden location shut down, followed by the Fulham Broadway outlet disappearing and now I’ve seen the following noticed pinned to the front door of the Hammersmith branch.
Have you noticed the Just Falafel fast food outlets have been shutting down in London.
The picture above shows the locked store front in Fulham and I noticed the outlet near Shaftesbury Avenue closed months back. It seems plans for expansion of the vegan-friendly food providers have hit a serious road block in the UK, even moving backward.
In contrast, the parent company is pushing ahead with rebranding and expansion in Australia. Just Falafel stores are planned for railway stations in capital cities down under, with the first one launched last year in Sydney’s Central Station.
This news article reports plans to open 160 Just Falafel locations across North America within five years. That’s a lot of falafel!
It seems the UK’s loss is the rest of the world’s gain.
Do you have a Just Falafel outlet near you? What do you think of the vegan offerings?
I’m not going to pretend the food in Just Falafel even comes close to my favourite eating place in London, Mr Falafel, but I will say they do a fabulous job of making vegans feel like they have another friend out in the wilds of the big city.
Just Falafel is relatively new to London, with a handful of franchise locations popping up recently as well as the corporately-owned outlet on Fulham Broadway. It was the Fulham branch that I first stumbled into and I was pleased I did.
The menu clearly states what is suitable for vegans and the manager of the store was more than happy to talk me through how they could veganise other items. I was attracted to an Egyptian falafel wrap with a side order of fries.
The fries were delicious and delivered in a super cute mini deep fryer basket. I was grinning from ear to ear. Potato is my life and Just Falafel on Fulham Broadway knew what they were doing with the good stuff.
The wrap was good, but certainly not overwhelming. I would rate it 7 out of 10. If I was in the area and hungry, I would definitely buy it again. I wouldn’t travel for it. I would travel for the fries, however.
Curiously, Josh and I visited the Just Falafel outlet in Covent Garden and were slightly less impressed. Josh actually said he would not go back and he works just a few minutes away. I was surprised by how different the experience was compared to the Fulham location. The Covent Garden fries were left unfinished by the two of us. That speaks volumes.
Now, back to the good stuff.
Check out my photos from the Fulham Broadway Just Falafel. I recommend eating there if you are in the area.
