My trip to France: King Falafel Palace / Le Roi du Falafel in Paris

2026-1

Sep 24

Front of King falafel palace / Le Roi du Falafel rue des rosiers Paris, France

One may wonder why we went to King Falafel Palace (Le Roi du Falafel in French) instead of a classic French brasserie or restaurant. Well, we wanted to go to Le Marais, a vibrant neighborhood shaped by large waves of Ashkenazi immigrants arriving from Eastern Europe in the late 19th century, that changed mid-century as Sephardic Jews from North Africa and the Middle East settled in the area, bringing Mediterranean cooking traditions, one of them being falafel. And also, as Jodi was flexible with restaurants choices during our entire trip to France, and knowing that she loves falafel, I thought this would be a great place to go. As we arrived, and despite the rain and being on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, we saw lots of people outside this place, eating sandwiches standing or lining up to order. Fortunately, they had tables inside and we got seated fairly quickly. The menu was a mix of vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes, with only platters, sandwiches being only offered outside. We started our meal by ordering drinks that were a homemade lemonade for my nephew Valentin, and a mango juice for me. We then each ordered different plates that were served with red and white cabbage, tomato and cucumber salad, fried peppers, fried onions, grilled eggplant, hummus and thina (or tahini), and a fluffy pita. Jodi got the falafel platter (15.50 Eur), Valentin got the shawarma platter (slices of turkey, chicken and lamb roasted on a pit - 17.50 Eur) with a side of merguez that are spicy seasoned beef sausages (5.50 Eur), while I went for the Royale platter (20.50 Eur) that was composed of merguez, kofta and shawarma. We also got fries to share (2.50 Eur). The platters were quite big, with generous portions. And they were delicious! The meat for the shawarma was nicely caramelized, while the merguez were slightly spicy and the falafel crunchy and not dry. This was a delicious meal and I am glad we got a table there because this was worth it. I definitely recommend this place!