We had been invited to a fancy dress party, so were picking through Kensington looking for something I could wear and look somewhat respectable in. Of course, shopping, like just about everything else in life, makes me hungry.

Luckily, Kensington is home to Akram’s Shoppe, renowned for its inexpensive middle eastern sandwiches. Like everybody, we got a couple of falafel sandwiches. Now, just in terms of the patty, I would say these are the best falafel I’ve had in this city. Properly crunchy on the outside and green, fluffy, and grainy on the inside, they have a mild spicyness to them and a refreshing absence of oilyness.

These are tightly wrapped in a pita with a nice, pasty-textured tahini and, to be honest, a bit too much bitter cabbage for my taste. There’s also a great hot pepper paste that really clears out the sinuses.

Suitably re-energized for two bucks each, we plunged back into the throngs. I ended up with a black velvet jacket and a blue tuxedo shirt with black trim. You should see it, really.