Your favourite falafel scientists are back with another edition of Falafel Friday. This week, we led an 18-strong army of hungry college students to Rusholme’s Today Restaurant. A momentarily longer journey than that of last edition’s Jaffa Mediterranean Restaurant, we were pleased to finally arrive, the blue glow of the ceiling lights offering a beacon of hope to our peckish tribe. While Today Restaurant lacked such comprehensive in-store seating as inside Jaffa, it made up for it in their value for money. The menu priced their signature falafel wrap at £3.50, however upon paying we were offered a student discount reducing the price to an undeniably respectable £3 per wrap, knocking Jaffa off their podium position. Pairing this with two free trays of chips and a free pizza, it was apparent that Today Restaurant valued our custom and really thrived off of making our experience as enjoyable as possible before we even got to eat.

Whilst the wait time for our grub was hefty (in part due to our hefty cohort), we could excuse this as every aspect of the wraps from the naan to the falafel itself was freshly made and cooked before our very eyes. And we couldn’t help but notice that, per wrap, we received FIVE FALAFEL BALLS. This compares to a measly four in each previous establishment. After adding the usual salad and sauce combo we tucked in, becoming quickly entranced by the delightful medley of flavours permeating our taste buds. Today restaurant have mastered a rich and satisfying blend of flavours that was an instant hit. There’s nothing quite like fresh, homemade food so seeing the naan and falafel cooked to order was certainly key to the allure of this restaurant.

Due to the lack of seating we headed off back to college to finish off our food, only to find that once again we were to be let down by a lack of structural integrity. What once was a packed assortment of vegetables and steaming falafel chunks became a sorry sight: a sad, gloopy mess of sauces, littered with a questionably large pile of onions. Unfortunately, it seems that structural integrity has become a common pit fall in our quest surely making this quality a marker of a truly top notch falafel.

We’re still yet to find the perfect balance of structure, value, and in-establishment vibes, so let us know your suggestions as we continue our quest to taste the Curry Mile’s best falafel wrap.

Overall, Today Restaurant has set the bar extremely high. Good quality, fresh food made to order for an exceedingly good price that tastes as good as its more expensive competitors. Perhaps where it falters is proximity, being one of the furthest thus far, although still within walking distance, and unfortunately through structural integrity. This falafel comes highly recommended.

FINAL SCORES:

VALUE – 5/5

TASTE – 4.5/5

PORTION SIZE 5/5

STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY – 3/5

PROXIMITY – 3.5/5

VIBES – 4/5

OVERALL 4.5/5