Landed for a week with my brother, sister-in-law and nephew in Tunisia. My brother picked me up from the airport in the evening and we stopped for mechoui at a roadside barbecue on the way to his home in Kelibia.
A guy ushered us into a parking space. We then went to the butcher's counter (rather rough and ready compared to the UK or France), to select the cuts we wanted grilled. Bits of sheep were hanging up and barbecue smoke wafter around. It was still very hot outside, and already dark. We chose some kind of rib section, a few merguez sausages and a bit of liver.
Loads of families were eating mechuoi at plastic tables on a terrace set back from the main road. I sat at a table while my brother waited at the barbecue area with our big metal bowl of raw goodies. 'Salade mechoui' arrived ('mechoui' just means grilled, but implies 'over charcoal'), which is minced chargrilled peppers and tomatoes with loads of gorgeous olive oil. It came with flatbread to eat it with (no cutlery provided) and a bottle of water. No booze available here. There was a juice stand next to us, selling virgin fruit cocktails and mint tea.
Eventually, our meat got its turn on the grill. It arrived all crispy and had been dipped in a salt and cumin mix before its roasting, so was absolutely deeelicious. So tasty! So juicy! We ate an enormous quantity. I was still very full after more than an hour on the road, but still wished for a little taster more mechoui before bed.
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