{"id":485,"date":"2026-05-19T19:34:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T23:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.salticid.com\/kogblog\/?p=485"},"modified":"2026-07-25T17:24:35","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T21:24:35","slug":"falafel-review-1-syriana-cuisine-may-17-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.salticid.com\/kogblog\/2026\/05\/falafel-review-1-syriana-cuisine-may-17-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Falafel review #1: Syriana Cuisine, New Britain CT, May 17, 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I stopped adding “treats<\/a>” posts a while back… ran out of steam and motivation. But I’m glad I did them, especially since not a single one of those items is still available. I absolutely love falafel sandwiches and I’ve been on a quest to find good ones wherever I travel. And they vary so much – the falafel itself, but also the bread, the fixings, and the overall eating experience (is it a tidy bundle or a freaking mess that drips all over and falls apart?) We are lucky to have excellent falafel right here in Northampton (Pita Pockets<\/a>!) although so far my very favorite is Yalla Vermont<\/a> in Brattleboro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I’m starting another writing experiment which may or may not last. I searched for other falafel rankings and found a<\/a> couple<\/a> (both regional – wait, here’s a US list<\/a>, and a short global list<\/a>). Getting at least one falafel on the side to see them in their native state seems like a good idea, but also a bit of a hassle. I skip onions and don’t want it spicy, but otherwise I’m into whatever the shop offers to put on, from pickled turnips to Yalla’s 3-hour boiled egg. I’m going to score up to 10 points on five categories, for a perfect score (very unlikely, I’m picky) of 50 – but Jonathan made an excellent point that eatability isn’t as important as the others, so I’ll reduce that to 5 possible points and add bonus points. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I’m out on a day trip, typically I’m visiting a museum, running some streets, and looking for other interesting things to do. I use Google Maps looking for “falafel near me” and pick a high-rated one. Sunday, May 17 was Syriana Cuisine, a large but quite empty restaurant in a strip mall in New Britain, CT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  • Falafel itself<\/strong>: Well-cooked crunchy outsite, decently moist on the inside. Not as green as I prefer, but good. 7\/10<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Bread<\/strong>: Thin, not greasy, savory, great for wrapping, well-toasted. A little tough but that helps it hold up to the fillings. 7\/10<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Sandwich fixings, taste and texture<\/strong>: Excellent additions include lemon zest and mint. Tahini and also pickled vegetables on the side, very nice. 9\/10<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Value for money<\/strong>: $10 before tax & tip, decent for a fairly small sandwich. 7\/10<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Eatability<\/strong>: Excellent! Tightly-rolled, held together until the next-to-last bite, hands stayed clean, ingredients well-distributed. 4\/5<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Bonus points<\/strong>: a well-lit, spacious restaurant with comfortable booths, a very nice greeter\/cook\/server (just 1 staffer running the place!), and the side pickles. 4\/5<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Total<\/strong>: 38\/50<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I stopped adding “treats” posts a while back… ran out of steam and motivation. But I’m glad I did them, especially since not a single one of those items is still available. I absolutely love falafel sandwiches and I’ve been on a quest to find good ones wherever I travel. And they vary so much […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[37,31],"class_list":["post-485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-falafel","tag-food","tag-writing-experiments"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.salticid.com\/kogblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.salticid.com\/kogblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.salticid.com\/kogblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.salticid.com\/kogblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.salticid.com\/kogblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.salticid.com\/kogblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":562,"href":"https:\/\/www.salticid.com\/kogblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485\/revisions\/562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.salticid.com\/kogblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.salticid.com\/kogblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.salticid.com\/kogblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}