CLOSED: Just Falafel - Ortakoy
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Vegetarian
Part of international vegetarian fast food chain. Menu is based around falafel with international variations, e.g. Indian style, American style, Mexican. Meal deals, sides such as french fries, hummus, dips, salads and desserts available. In addition to falafel wrap varieties, it also serves kumpir which is a baked potato filled with veggies - it's unique to Ortakoy. Reported closed to HappyCow, Oct 2015.
Category: Vegan-friendly, Lacto, Ovo, Fast food, Take-out, Fusion, Middle Eastern, Turkish
Reviews (4)
First Review by hatucar
Contributions +35
Vegetarian Fast-food in Istanbul - Edit
I have eaten the original falafel wrap which (I guess) is vegan. Also, they serve french fries and you don't have to worry if it is fried with chicken ect. They don't have meat, but there is cheese in some wraps. Prices are ok. Same restaurant can be found in Beşiktaş too. I hope Just Falafel will open a new restaurant in the shopping malls of Istanbul.
Pros: Rare vegetarian fast-food in Istanbul, Tasty
Cons: Not many vegan options, Not super-tasty
2 Responses
guraytezcan 21 Sep 2014 - hmm.. are you sure that it is rare to find vegetarian fast food in istanbul? snack shops that only serves cigkofte wrap are spread everywhere, presumably thousand of them are on every street of istanbul, and the only option in there cigkofte is vegan. it depends on your taste though, cigkofte is quite spicy for some people.
Denizka 22 Sep 2014 - I don't like ciğköfte. It is just not for me :). Also, many cigkofte stores use chicken boullion.
Contributions +264
Not bad, but... - Edit
This is currently the only branch of Just Falafel in Istanbul after the closure of the Besiktas branch, and it doesn't really look like this one will do any better.
It's quite a big place, and as well as the Falafel wrap varieties, it also has a full veggie Kumpir (baked potato) serving area which is pretty cool considering all of the other baked potato places have the repulsive unnaturally pink turkish meat.
Anyway, the falafel wraps are ok but nothing special - this is very far from being a Maoz falafel. The different international themes seem a little gimmicky.
Worse is the way that the heat from the panini machine kills all of the crispyness of the falafel balls leaving a dull mush - they might be ok if you order them separately. Still, given that everything is vegetarian (and maybe 50% vegan) it's a good enough selection.
The location is very central in relation to Ortakoy, but can be difficult to get to from other parts of Istanbul with heavy road traffic in this area.
Pros: Good selection also veg. baked potatoes, Nice part of Istanbul
Cons: Food not super interesting, Can be difficult to get
Contributions +22
The falafel version of McDonalds, in a good way :) - Edit
Great falafel selection, I went with the classic version, which was good but too salty. There is also the option to have it Italian style, Turkish style (yeah I dunno either), and Japanese style, which I think is interesting. They also do baked potato with falafel, or you can get your sandwich with fries - just like McDs! They really try to upsell you (probably because they have 1 customer a day) but still it's a grea undiscovered gem in the heart of the city. Their lack of custom is probably due to the fact that their location is a bit odd, and many Turkish people love meat.
Pros: Great range of options
Contributions +11
Good - Edit
Went there in December 2013. The staff was really nice and helpful. Good food but small portions. Good to have the veggie option. FYI. The mayo was apparently vegan :)
Pros: veggie/vegan, Nice staff, central
Cons: small portions
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