Merguez lafa

Back in March, my co-workers (for reasons I won’t go into here, but mainly because they’re awesome) sent me a huge package of falafel, salad, and sauces from Balady, a kosher falafel spot in Temple Fortune. Ever since lockdown eased I’ve been meaning to stop by to try their sabich, which I’d heard great things about. However, when I finally got there late on Wednesday, I impulsively changed my plan. You see, there’s just no way I can walk past merguez without eating merguez, and so I ended up to their sister restaurant a couple of doors down. I got the merguez in lafa, stuffed with hummus, salad, aubergine, pickles, beets, carrots, cauliflower, fiery chilli sauce (both red and green), tahina and amba, and ate the entire huge, pillowy wrap in about ten minutes flat, stopping just now and then to lick the oily, flame red meat juice from back of my hand, shake my head at the gloriousness of the thing, and gasp for air.

- OJF