Terrorist tagine

The prospect of eating tagine prepared by a former terrorism suspect proved irresistible, so off I trotted to the K’ Road food court to join my brother for lunch at Ahmed Zaoui’s stall, Salam.

As you may recall, Ahmed Zaoui made headlines about 10 years ago for being thrown in prison on trumped up terrorism charges after he sought refugee status in New Zealand.

To cut a long story short, the Government’s fears turned out to be groundless and Ahmed was subsequently released.

These days he is still making the news – but this time it’s for his delicious Algerian food.  So apologies to Ahmed for this blog’s tacky title and salacious starting sentence.  If it’s any consolation, I briefly considered erring on the side of good taste but political correctness failed to triumph over alliteratively titivating lexical temptations. 

Unsurprisingly, lunch passed without incident and only food-related intrigue was in evidence at Ahmed’s stall.

I tried to get brother John to hold off eating long
enough for me to photograph the chicken tagine.  But,
as you can see from the blur of fork action, he was
in no mood to wait.

My lamb tagine was so delicious - delicate
and flavoursome - that I'd woolfed
most of it down before I thought
to share the experience with you.  
 I especially liked the way
it was studded with little nuggets of
preserved lemon.

I was intrigued by this lemon honey drink but was
loath to buy some in case it was too sweet.
Ahmed kindly insisted that he would
refund my money if I didn't like it.
Fortunately it was delicious!

Ahmed Zaoui (left) and his helper at Salam.

Salam's food is simple, unpretentious and prepared with a quiet sense of pride.   If you're looking a tasty and very reasonably priced Algerian food experience then check it out at the K Road food court (184 Karangahape Road, opposite St Kevin's Arcade).