I have been craving for some good Middle Eastern food but for the longest of times I could not figure out where to go in order to find something decent. Well, fret not, because I managed to hit two birds with one stone by coming across La Hummuseria+Falafeleria duo.

Falafeleria, calle de Santa Bárbara, 4, 28004

After driving back from Dénia from the weekend of debauchery, well, mainly having eaten ourselves to death at Quique Dacosta (3*), I found myself craving something light and refreshing. Something Middle Eastern. My Google search led me to La Hummuseria (but it was too far away to walk), so we settled on their sister joint – Falafeleria.

Located just around the corner from Mercado Antón Martín, the area pretty quiet and subdued on a Sunday night, it perfectly fit my mood to have a relaxing eat. The restaurant has some seating inside but most people took their food to take away. We placed our order and sat down to wait. Which was a tad longer than we expected because they were just about to make a new batch of falafel. Well, I am not about to complain about fresh delicious balls coming right out of the fryer, so we drank our kombucha (€2.90 per small bottle) and chilled out.

Both sabij pita (€7.40) and falafel pita (€7.40) came stuffed full of every available selection from the counter: pickled cucumbers, cabbage, sweet onions, tomatoes, three preserved condiments and two different sauces (tahini and spicy). Basically, I just told the guy at the counter to stuff it with everything to the high heavens and he took it to his heart.

Sabij pita was made with fried eggplant and hardboiled egg, the flavour of which was so good! Eggplant was creamy and smoky, the condiments adding a bit of a tang and a crunch and the sauces rounding everything out. I generally do not like tahini based sauces but this was neither too bitter nor too overpowering. Such yummy pita! The same goes for the falafel – the balls were light and airy, crispy on the outside and steamy on the inside. Not too dry and not too brittle, just a perfect falafel bite.

These might be some of the best pitas I have ever had, definitely in the top 5. This gets Ieva’s seal of approval and I already want to come back to try their mushroom shawarma (oh, and I forgot to say, they are fully vegetarian/vegan friendly).

La Hummuseria, calle de Hernán Cortés, 8, 28004

I was not done with Middle Easter food yet because the next day we headed to La Hummuseria, to see if they can live up to the hype I felt after visiting Falafeleria. And, yes, right off the bat I can say, they were fantastic. Finally a decent place I can take my vegetarian sister to!!!

We felt very fancy (no we did not), so we ordered a bottle of Clos Lojen Bobal wine (€17) from their short but clearly well-curated wine list. The wine was a light read, quite balanced and very easy to drink. I have also ordered some homemade lemonade (€3.80) that was not sweet at all – perfect!

We started the dinner with their classic hummus (€6.90) that came accompanied by a plate of very fresh pickles. The hummus was rich and creamy, the pickles providing a delectable tangy balance to the whole experience. The pitas were decent too, although not the best I have ever had.

Khoresht sabzi (€11) a type of sour Persian stew with potatoes and beans came accompanied with white rice that had pomegranate kernels and chopped parsley. This stew truly blew our socks off, it was that good. Incredibly tangy to the point of us questioning whether it was not made with sorrel (it was not), it just was a complete and total joy to eat. I love sour foods and this was a delight. The rice was not bad but I am notorious for not liking rice in general.

We also had dolma (€6.90) and it was fantastic. Maybe a little bit too small for the price of €7 but they were little bombs of sour explosion. The brown rice inside was cooked to perfection, the grains sticky yet separate enough to not be a clumpy mess. Very yummy indeed.

La Hummuseria proved to be a fantastic choice as well. Another seal of approval granted and I cannot wait to come back to eat more. More. MORE. Although, I do have to add a side note about the service. The place was rather busy at the time we got there and there was only one waitress covering the area of six tables (a mix of 2-4 pax tables) and she was clearly out of her league. The service was very pleasant (and apologetic) but VERY haphazard. Not a problem for us – we had out wine and we could wait for our food but some of the other patrons got rather exasperated…