$5(ish) Lunch in Athens!

PALL’S bagels and falafel is aptly named. In terms of lunch food, stuffed bagels and falafels are what you’ll find, but the owner subscribes to the adage that if you do two things, you should do them very well.
At the time of writing, four euros is akin to five dollars. The bagel with salmon and cream cheese falls fifty cents under, but I, instead, sprung fifty cents over on the basis of another saying: you get what you pay for.

Eggplant, carrot, cauliflour, zucchini and broccoli are cut before your eyes and thrown into a skillet with the falafel balls. (For those who might not know, falafel is ground chickpeas and fava beans rolled together and fried in a pan.) The steaming hulk is stuffed into a freshly warmed pita. Be forewarned that with each bite the odds of molten olive paste landing square on your pants increases, so eat over your plate like your mother told you.

Pall’s also makes delicious mango lassie and offers ginger beer for 3 euros. He offers coffees and teas while international beers, sodas, and new-agey herbal drinks in cans are stocked in the back cooler.

To get there from Syntagma Square, head toward Mitropoleos and turn left on Voulis Street, then right on Apollonos. Go past the fish market, the fruit market, the Orthodox supply shops and junk shops. End on the right at no. 30. It’s a small joint. Bring a friend but not twenty of them. Closed past five and on the weekends.