Eye Falafel stand at Petticoat Lane Market. Pic: Maraam Nusair 

Petticoat Lane Food Court in Spitalfields is a seemingly unassuming market with a few stalls lined up opposite each other serving wallet-friendly street food. 

But look a little closer and you will discover this space is packed with authentic street food vendors from all over the world dishing up a range of cuisines.  It was crowned Best Small Speciality Market in the Great British Market Awards 2024. 

And one of them stands out from the long queues it invariably attracts everyday. This is the stall of Shakir Al-Badour, owner of Eye Falafel, the oldest trader in the market having been there since it opened its doors in 2009.   

Although nursing was his career when he arrived in the UK in the 1980’s from Jordan, coming from a country where the culture is heavily centred around food, he decided to open his own stall, serving up just one food: authentic Jordanian street-style falafel, served in wraps or boxes.  

He describes himself as a “feeder,” which certainly rings true, insisting on packing this writer off with two falafel wraps, extra falafel, humous and salsa free of charge. Like most from the Arab world, he wouldn’t take no for an answer.  “I’m very passionate about food, I like to feed people.”

Shaker Al-Badour making his signature falafel wrap. Pic: Maraam Nusair 

His falafels are all made from scratch every morning in the kitchen he set up opposite the market street,  

“We have a very good traditional Jordanian falafel, so I don’t use any [dry] spices whatsoever in my falafel, only fresh ingredients. We also have our homemade humous and chilli sauce made in-house.” 

In true Jordanian fashion, Shaker uses chickpeas as the main ingredient to make his falafel, unlike Egyptian style falafel which uses fava beans, and is most likely where the dish originated.  

Eye Falafel has gained 485 5-star Google reviews from loyal and repeat customers. It is by far the most popular food stand at Petticoat Lane Market, with a line of customers curving around and reaching the other end of the street. The queue is at its longest at lunchtime.  

Hundreds queue up at lunchtime on weekdays for Eye Falafel. Pic: Maraam Nusair.

“It’s like this every day,” Shaker says. He makes his way down the long line of people patiently waiting to order, with a bowl of steaming hot falafel and a tub of homemade humous for them to try. He and his team serve around 400 people daily.

Shaker handing out fresh falafel and humous to waiting customers. Pic: Maraam Nusair 

“When we first started, it was very quiet,” he explains. “When we started from scratch, we were only making around £30 a day, but I worked hard to put the business up, and now we have very good, repeated customers, and the business is really booming.” 

“It is a small market, yes. But everyone here is like a family. Sometimes [the other stall owners] have some of my food, sometimes I have their food, we’re all friends here.”