Falafel Ragil (פלאפל רגיל) is the regular falafel, the default order: fried chickpea balls in a pita with the standard set of salads and tahini, nothing pushed and nothing left out. The angle is exactly that ordinariness. This is the reference build every other falafel sandwich is measured against, so it hinges not on a special ingredient but on each common element being done correctly and held in proportion. The chickpea ball, the bread, the salad and the sauce all have to be right at the same time, because there is no signature addition to distract from a weak link.
The build is the textbook shape. The falafel is ground from soaked chickpeas with parsley, garlic, cumin and coriander, shaped small and fried so the crust is deeply browned and crackling while the inside stays green and moist. The pita is fresh and soft, opened into a pocket. A base of hummus or tahini goes against the bread to seal it and add body, then the hot falafel is pressed in so a couple of balls break and catch the sauce, then chopped Israeli salad of tomato, cucumber and onion for acid and crunch, pickled cucumbers and turnips, sometimes a little cabbage, and tahini run over the top to bind it. Some counters add a few chips as standard. Done right, it is balanced and textural, the crust audible under the sauce, the herby interior coming through, the cold salad cutting the warm chickpea, and it holds together to the last bite. Done wrong, the falafel is fried ahead and soft, the oil was too cool so it eats greasy, the salad is watery and floods the bread, or the pocket is overloaded and tears apart.
It varies less than its descendants because the point of ragil is the standard, but it still shifts by region, by stand and by the cook's hand: the falafel a little larger or smaller, the salad cut finer or rougher, the tahini thicker or looser. The eater can nudge it at the counter, asking for more sauce, hotter, or the chips in or out, but a true regular stays close to the default. Every named variation grows out of this build, the spicy falafel charif, the everything-loaded falafel im hakol, the amba or chips versions, each one this same sandwich with a single dial turned. Those deserve their own treatment rather than a line here, and they all measure themselves against this: fresh-fried, well-seasoned falafel in good pita, dressed plainly and in proportion so nothing has to be added for it to work.