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The recipes were all easy to make, though some of the timings needed extending (possibly due to our oven’s idiosyncrasies). After enduring a three-month journey to the UK, leaving his wife, three daughters and a restaurant in Damascus, he found cooking for 400 people provided a taste of home and a reminder of who he was.
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An entry midway through sees him reflecting on his relationship with his mother, who died in Syria less than two months after he arrived in the UK. Imad now runs an acclaimed restaurant in London, which was named GQ ’s ‘Best Breakthrough Restaurant 2022’. Many of the dishes that have become signatures at Alarnab’s London restaurant feature, including the falafel, which are strikingly shaped with hole in the middle for a ‘crispier texture’. Interspersed with the recipes is the story of how he came to London – a tale that mirrors that of so many desperate refugees seeking asylum here. I really recommend this book – both as a cookbook with very tasty recipes, and as the story of a man who risked everything to come to London.
He was a very successful businessman and chef in Damascus, but his opposition to Assad meant that it was no longer safe for him nor his family for him to remain.
Throughout, the recipes are simple and straightforward, with almost all the ingredients obtainable in your local supermarket. But that is his reality, the light and the dark sitting incredibly close, and one that thankfully most of us will never have to endure. Alongside delicious recipes, Imad will share the unforgettable details of how he came to settle in London, as well as the story of his home country, Syria. Soon after that he was running a pop-up restaurant in east London that was so popular tickets sold out in 24 hours, which led to him opening the doors of his Carnaby Street restaurant in 2021.
The copy of the book I have is subtitled “A Love Letter from Damascus to London”, and it is book showing the deep affection the author has for his homeland of Syria, and his gratitude to Britain for giving himself and his family asylum here.
In the book he shares traditional Syrian dishes that form the basis of his cooking at the restaurant. Alarnab has told his story many times before to journalists and on TV, but this is the first time he’s really been given the space to explain the whole saga: from his life as a restaurateur in Damascus to being forced to flee and journey through Europe to the UK; navigating the UK’s long and debilitating immigration process; his fight to bring his family to the UK from Syria; opening his first restaurant in London; and, finally, reflecting on what it means to be a refugee today’s world.
It involves so much waiting, unable to do anything, completely at the mercy of a constantly changing series of people who mostly don’t seem to care. Imad now runs an acclaimed restaurant in London, which was named GQ’s ‘Best Breakthrough Restaurant 2022’. Imad’s response is that 1) he already spoke fluent English, and did not feel at his age he could learn a new language to the same proficiency required to integrate into the new country; 2) he already had family living in Northern England. Only one recipe had an ingredient I was not able to get: sour cherry molasses for the ‘Saroja’ (fried baby aubergines with cheeses). My favourite recipes were ‘Katif Ghanam’ (slow cooked marinated lamb shoulder baked in a parcel with herbs, carrots, potatoes and onion), ‘Mujadara’ (bulgar wheat and brown lentil salad) and ‘Muhammara’ (a red pepper and walnut chunky paste).
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