L'As du Fallafel

Rue des Rosiers in the Marais is the spine of the old Jewish quarter, and on a busy Sunday the street is one long queue curling away from a single takeaway window. L'As du Fallafel has been that window for decades, and the wait — often half an hour, sometimes longer — is part of the ritual. You will be handed a ticket, you will shuffle forward, and eventually you will be eating one of the best sandwiches in Paris for the price of a coffee in the eighth arrondissement.

The order is the falafel spécial, and the case for it is simple. A pita is opened and packed with warm, freshly fried chickpea falafel, hummus and tahini, then layered with fried aubergine, red and white cabbage, cucumber, tomato, pickles and enough harissa to make you pay attention. The aubergine is the detail that separates it from every imitator: soft, sweet and half-collapsing, it holds the sandwich together emotionally as well as physically. Eat it immediately, standing up, with a paper napkin you will definitely need. If you want more, the fried aubergine on its own and the schnitzel pita are both worth knowing about.

This is strictly a takeaway counter. There are a few stools inside, but the street is the dining room. Cash is welcome and speeds things up, and the line moves faster than it looks. Do note the calendar: the neighbourhood is Jewish, so the shop closes early on Fridays and shuts entirely for Shabbat on Saturdays. Arrive on a Sunday and you are joining a Parisian tradition that has nothing to do with the guidebooks.

Phil Rosenthal made a point of stopping here in Somebody Feed Phil, and his reaction on camera — unguarded, genuinely delighted — remains the most accurate review the sandwich has ever received. Come for the falafel, stay for the discovery that the best eating in the Marais costs less than ten euros.