One small word in Iraqi made me get in the car and start driving

The rattle was excellent, the fluffy falafel soaked in it perfectly along with the fried eggplant and pita stood out respectfully throughout the business.

It's not hard to fall in love with falafel in Dalek, and that's exactly what happened to us

Walla!

Food

28/06/2022

Tuesday, June 28, 2022, 9 p.m.

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One word was enough to send me to the fence.

Badalk's Falafel-Shakshuka (Photo: David Rosenthal)

Smells are said to evoke the strongest memories, but words can also overwhelm.

"Badalk," for example, is a word that immediately jumps back at me from elementary school and high school in Ramat Gan.

The days of the late eighties, early nineties, times when everyone laughed that "Saddam Hussein would not dare to bomb this city, because everyone here is from Baghdad," just before his missiles actually fell in Abba Hillel's area, on the walls of many of my friends' houses. Long weeks in hotels.

"Badalk" ("atonement" or if you like "darling") was then part of the regular landscape, along with words like "Ash Lonk", "Pacha", "Tabith" and other terms reserved for Iraqis and their descendants.

A few weeks ago I received a recommendation for a place called "Falafel in Dalek" in Gedera and I immediately knew that it would not be a question of if but of when.

After all, words have power,

An equal menu for everyone (Photo: David Rosenthal)

This is the place to open brackets and flood a small confession - I'm not dying for falafel.

I think this is the most overrated dish in the history of Mediterranean food and it is not clear to me how and why it actually became a symbol of Palestine.

It was Mark Twain who said the well-known phrase "If you think of falafel, it's time to screw up shawarma."

Actually, I'm not sure it was him, but you always feel smarter when you claim that Mark Twain said something.

One way or another, for falafel alone I would not go to the fence, but I realized that Dalek has a little more than just falafel.

So I headed out.

In contrast to the overrated food, Gedera itself is undoubtedly an underrated place.

Suddenly, a few miles from the descent from Highway 4, you enter a place where time has stood still, and contrary to the negativity implied by this sentence, this is a perfectly good section.

No more human bustle, stone towers that create a menacing skyline and searches of half an hour or more to find parking.

At 11:30 in the morning everything is quiet there, wrapped in the chirping of thin birds.

Behind the small shopping center where Falafel is located in Dalek you can hear the hum of the students who went out for a break.

Everything is just perfect.

Last week

"It's time to make one last wish" I thought and bit into the pita.

Hell, it's just worth it

To the full article

The guy who founded and operates the place is called Assaf.

I do not tend to ask people their names, but he is so cordial and smiling that the connection is immediately formed and you just can not remain indifferent.

I asked him why "Badalk" and he said that he came from an Iraqi house (Laaa, Walla?), He was looking for a name for the business and when "Badalk" came up in one of the conversations he knew - that's it.

His family member, by the way, operates another eatery that meets the same name on the streets.

"Did you come from Givatayim? So you must have come for the Sabih," he shoots.

It is amazing how the image of Givatayim, one of the most populated and sought-after areas in Gush Dan, is distilled into one Sabih stand on Sirkin Street.

But no, I do not feel like Sabih.

The dish I really wanted was a shakshuka with falafel (NIS 28).

There's no reason to go for falafel alone, Mark Twain and I have already agreed, but shakshuka with a few balls - it already sounds like a very positive challenge.

Assaf will operate the bubbling pan, fry the falafel, put in the pita and serve.

The most cruel test in such a dish passes, as expected, the pita itself.

It's hard to expect it to last and not be torn from the amount of solids and liquids absorbed into it, but Bedalk's pita did the job with dignity until the last bite.

And yes, this too is a testament to the excellent quality of all the products in the place, everything is fresh and of a high standard.

The rattle was excellent and the tender falafel on its own was absorbed in it whole along with the fried eggplant.

I exploded?

No, but it was a very respectable dish, certainly in relation to the price.

Badalek also has other options, such as aruk (vegetable patty) in pita, five-course falafel and of course sabih, all at an equal price for every pocket.

Passed the test with dignity.

Fried falafel pita in Dalek (Photo: official website, Falafel in Instagram page in Dalek)

Falafel in Dalek did me good on the heart, not only because of the quality and the reasonable price, but also thanks to Assaf's wide smile.

There are all sorts of reasons to pargan.

When the owner of the place so wants to entertain his customers, shows it to them and serves excellent food, you don't really have to look for them.

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• Falafel

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