Shawarma House restaurant brings Syrian flavours to Yellowknife

At a time when restaurants are struggling to remain open, Yellowknife's Shawarma House sold out of food two days in a row when it launched earlier this week.

On opening day, Monday, co-owners Zakaria Boukdich, Chef Moustafa Alhajjy and manager Maamer Hamada were beaming as the lunch crowd was lined up out the door for Syrian fare like shawarma, tabouleh, baba ganoush, falafel, hummus and stuffed grape leaves all cooked up by Alhajjy and his family.

"[Moustafa] has knowledge, he has creativity in his hands. Whatever he makes, it tastes good," said Boukdich.

"He was so excited to have his own restaurant with his own flavours, especially with spices coming out of Syria. Those are special spices and special orders only for us," he said.

While Boukdich hails from Morocco and Hamada from Algeria, the flavours and food are focused on what Moustafa learned to make as a chef in Syria.

The three men sit together jesting about the items they might add to the menu next year, but agree it will stay focused on Syrian flavours.

"We built this brotherly relationship together, then one day it just popped up in our heads, what about making a store, our own restaurant? Two years later, here we are," said Boukdich. 

'Making food with love'

Alhajjy's wife Zeina and son, Diya, also work at Shawarma House.

Diya, translating from Arabic for his dad, said the first thing Moustafa thought of on opening day was how customers will react to the food. 

"I'm really happy that we opened and I hope people will like the food that I'm making. I'm trying to bring something new to the restaurants, with Arab cuisine," said Moustafa. 

Finding a restaurant was difficult for Moustafa when he first arrived from Damascus, Syria, due to language barriers. At first, his family was not fluent in English and translation services were not always available, he said. 

"Since we came to Canada, it was his dream to open a restaurant but it didn't happen until today. It's really fun because you're working with family," said Diya. 

The Alhajjy family had five sponsors in Yellowknife including Nazim Awan, Lindsay Dufarmer, Sheila Anderson, Aggie Brockman and James Anderson.

Without the sponsors, Moustafa said his family would be living a different life, and might not have been able to get to Canada. 

"When I first came here, I saw so many restaurants in Yellowknife. I talked with James, maybe after four or five years I'll open a restaurant with Syrian food," said Moustafa.

Boukdich said that the Alhajjy's are "making food with love, with care." 

It took four months of preparation to get the former Ambassador restaurant on Franklin Ave. into shape.

The restaurateurs thanked the N.W.T. government and the City of Yellowknife for supporting their dream.

"We are coming from different countries and most of us are immigrants. They want to give an example to help businesses to grow in Yellowknife and in our community because now we call it home."