You Can’t Miss the Neon Sign
The neon sign commands your attention. An old fashioned marquee style arrow with the word “Falafel Shop” points towards a brightly lit eatery.
The large speech balloon on the wall of the shop shouts “Hubbly Bubbly.” Everything from the unusual, creative font to the holey wooden exterior tables tells you this place is unique. Once inside, the friendly service and delicious food completes the experience.
Hubbly Bubbly is the newest and (as far as the LanceAround family is concerned) one of the best falafel shops in Orlando. Located on Edgewater Drive in the heart of the College Park area, it’s a wonderful place to enjoy delicious, low cost middle eastern cuisine with creative touches unlike any falafel shop we have seen.
The Branding is Very Effective
We began with a falafel sandwich. Unlike most falafel shops, Hubbly Bubbly features an assembly-line style food bar, similar to a Subway, where your server creates an individual sandwich with ingredients of your choice. These ingredients are both familiar and exotic; from fresh, homemade hummus, to lettuce, tomatoes, pickled turnips and tabbouleh to exotic creative sauces, pickles and salads. Each one made fresh under the creative eye of Chef Georgie. To enhance your meal, try side dishes such as the delectable Crispy Cauliflower served with Lilly dipping sauce or the Mazel Tots-similar to a tater tots-tossed with a signature five-spice seasoning and served with fresh made Hubbly Hummus.
For the non-vegetarians among you, Hubbly Bubbly features traditional shawarma style, slow-roasted chicken, lamb and/or steak seasoned with Georgie’s own blend of secret spices. Everything can be served in a bowl, sandwich or salad.
We arrived at Hubbly Bubbly just before closing and were lucky enough to meet Georgie, the chef behind the fabulous food. He explained that one of his co-founders of Hubbly Bubbly is Mark who is also at partner at Push, a well respected local marketing agency. Mark wanted to establish a restaurant that would help him better understand the marketing needs of his restaurant clients. This combination explains the creative branding style and equally creative cuisine.
Also present was Danny, Store Manager. What was most impressive was how eager these guys were to tell us about their unique concept as well as to get our honest opinion about the food they serve. We had not revealed to them that we run a popular local blog about the best places in and around Orlando. So when Georgie gave us a large platter of rice with a new tomato and green bean stew he was experimenting with and asked us to let him know whether or not it had too much oil, too little oil, too many beans or whatever, he had no way of knowing we would post our response online for all to read.
Chef Georgie Give Samples to NumberOneSon
Our response: Georgie, it is delicious. Absolutely delicious. Even though we were completely stuffed from having eaten at your restaurant less than an hour earlier, as soon as we got home we couldn’t wait to try out your green beans and rice. Please add them to your menu.
Knowing that NumberOneSon is a vegan, Danny and Georgie also gave him a large sample platter of cooked lentils along with some kind of salad that was similar to tabbouleh. This dish is also fabulous.
Danny and Georgie explained that their plan was to open about five Hubbly Bubblys in the Orlando market and then franchise the concept. They said they have several investors chomping at the bit to get a franchise, but they want to get their management team stabilized and expand on their current success before branching out. Based on what we saw, the future looks very bright.
It doesn’t take a genius to know that Hubbly Bubbly will be very successful. You don’t want to miss this treat. Or, as it says on the back of the T-shirts that the servers wear, “Don’t Be a Falafool.”
Hubbly Bubbly
3405 Edgewater Drive
Orlando, FL 32804
407.985.5841
www.HubblyBubblyFalafel.com
Lance Around Orlando 