Become a Member
News

'We saw it as our mission to try and lift the community with falafel during lockdown,' say owners of Temple Fortune hotspot

For the owners of falafel hot-spot Balady keeping the business open during lockdown gave their business - and the community - a big lift

June 11, 2020 08:55
IMG-20200609-WA0016.jpg
4 min read

The owner of one north west London’s most highly praised falafel bars has said he has resisted closing down the business during the coronavirus pandemic in the hope that his tasty chickpea snacks could lift the community in truly dire times.

Before the virus took hold in the UK, the falafel, shakshuka, sabich, hummus and salads of Temple Fortune eaterie Balady proved to be such a hit that the three brothers who own it took the plunge and opened a meat and fish restaurant named Alaesh only three doors away.

“We made what I now think was a smart decision not to worry about the finances and to stay open,’’ Oz Sabbo, the eldest of the three brothers behind Balady, told the JC this week.

“Coronavirus arrived just one month after we had opened our second restaurant, which we had invested £120,000 in, and we were really stressed, we didn’t know what to do.