Salads are rarely exciting. Yet, at The Black Groodle — the name is a homage to the owner’s dog who is a hybrid breed of Golden Retriever and Poodle — they’ve been making an art of it with Middle Eastern-inspired salads since 2014. At lunch, a loyal crowd extends out the door.

The menu is written on the subway tiles behind the main counter, with a range of wraps and plates.

There’s also a selection of baked goods from slices to Turkish delight and baklava.

The plates come with a choice of three salads in addition to the protein, and there’s no shortage of variety to choose from. Everything is made on-site and the offering varies daily.

This is my Falafel Plate. There are five plates to choose from — veggie, chicken, beef, lamb, and falafel — and all include hummus and flatbread for the same price ($15.00).

I chose a roast potato salad, a couscous salad, as well as homemade baked beans. The roast potatoes are delicious in every bite, while the homemade baked beans have the brightness of fresh tomato flavour and bite in the bean that’s lacking in canned baked beans. The chickpea salad, though, was a bit of a miss with its overall sweetness.

The falafels were crunchy on the outside but far too chunky overall, which called for a lot of chewing and begged the addition of more hummus to add moisture. The salads were the definite stars of the plate and I would’ve been happy to forgo the falafel for more salad. While included in the price, the flatbread is provided only upon request and we found the legumes and lentils filled us up so thoroughly we need it.

This is N’s version of the falafel plate, which is much the same other than the chickpea salad that she chose over my baked beans. She thoroughly enjoyed her plate and found the chickpea salad satisfying with its spiced garam masala flavour.

With bright and bold flavours in their generous variety of salads, it’s not difficult to see why The Black Groodle is such a popular lunch spot in Ultimo. I’d be keen to return to try their other salads as well as their sweets.

The Black Groodle is located at 55 Mountain St, Ultimo NSW 2007.