Farhat Restaurant
2020 Lawrence Avenue East
416-285-5010
Dinner for two with soft drinks and all taxes: $20

“Feel awful, ha, ha, ha! You’re having a feel awful!” That’s what my room mate Morton used to guffaw whenever I ate a falafel for dinner. Now I never liked Morton and I’m glad he’s doing twenty-to-life at Kingston Pen. But there was some truth in his witless, annoying braying. Falafels are a food I associate with student indigence, cramped, insalubrious restaurants and horrible room mates. Did I actually like falafels? After an intestinal upset from one rancid, oil-soaked “falafel special,” I abandoned my pious vegetarian lifestyle and apprenticed as a butcher.

Still, during my excursion to Nasr Foods two weeks ago, I saw the constant stream of visitors to Farhat, a small restaurant that adjoins it. And there was a certain buzz surrounding it on the foodie message boards. This provoked in me a strange nostalgic hunger for that Mid-Eastern staple. I would, as the autumn leaves fall, return to the food of my youth in a Scarborough strip plaza.

It’s not chick pea balls that attract attention at Farhat though, but the mountains of dripping meat rotating on skewers: beef, lamb, chicken and sujuk (spiced beef). I’m tempted to forget about the falafel altogether and give my canines and colon a good workout. Indeed, the roasting, marinated flesh arouses a primitive blood lust in my wife and she orders the beef shawarma plate ($7.99) while I return to my vegetarian roots and opt for the falafel plate ($6.99).

Farhat is a small place with enough seating for about 12 people. Take out seems to be the mainstay of the business. This is Mid-East fast food and it doesn’t take long to arrive.

The beef for the shawarma is shaved off in generous portions, slathered with a garlicky tahini sauce, then hot pressed into a pita. This meat is moist and tender; obviously benefiting from a long, relaxing stay on a rotating spit. It is nestled in a Nasr pita with salad and pickled vegetables. I would like to try the lamb, though, surely an unrivalled meat to cook in this manner. The plate comes with hummus, pickled turnips, tabbouleh and lettuce. I can’t say they were particularly memorable. A better idea would be to order the remarkable two-for-one shawarma special.

As for the falafel plate, let me say at the time of this entry, I don’t feel awful. The fried chick pea patties. wrapped in pita, with aforementioned tahini and some hot sauce, were crispy and dense. I wolfed it down like a, well, wolf – a vegetarian wolf. Yes, I will add more falafels to my diet.

There is also shish tawook (chicken) or shish kafta, (ground beef) on the menu. They are grilled on a sword-like skewer. Stuffed grape leaves (six for $1.99), yogurt and cucumber ($2.50), and baba ganoush ($3.99) are other vegetarian options. Farhat is an inexpensive and colorful joint for dinner. And I’ve heard good things about Ibrahim’s across the street. So take the Lawrence bus to the Arab Strip. Say Morton sent you.