(30 Jun 2021) LEAD IN:
Imad Alarnab, moved to the U.K. from Syria in 2015, travelling across 10 different countries for three months.
This year, he opened his first permanent restaurant in London, despite COVID-19 restrictions and lockdown.
STORY-LINE:
Fragrant flavours inspired by Damascus fill the menu at Imad's Syrian Kitchen in London.
The colourful dishes are bursting with authentic Middle Eastern aromas.
The restaurant offers a wide variety of options, from fried okra to aubergine and lamb dishes.
Preparations are underway ahead of the lunchtime service.
Founder of Imad's Syrian Kitchen, Imad Alarnab, begins by prepping and frying the falafel.
This bite-size falafel is shaped in the form of a disc with a hole in the middle.
"The inspiration about my recipes, all from Damascus, all of it. It's all about my memories," says Alarnab.
"It's all inspired from that memories about the smell of my mother's kitchen," he adds
In Syria, Alarnab opened his first restaurant in 1999.
He ran three restaurants in Damascus alongside cafés and juice bars, but Alarnab's restaurants were destroyed in the war.
He moved to the U.K. in 2015, after months of travelling across 10 different countries.
His food journey began here with a series of charity events, supper clubs and pop-ups.
Located on the top floor of Kingly Court in Soho, this is his first permanent restaurant in the U.K.
Imad's Syrian Kitchen opened in May this year, but it wasn't without difficulty.
"We had to delay one or two or three times. But now we are here. Hopefully, it's going to be fine," Alarnab says.
The hospitality industry is desperate to recover from losses incurred during lockdown.
But according to, David Trunkfield, a hospitality, travel and leisure leader for PricewaterhouseCoopers, the industry still faces challenges.
"Obviously lots of hospitality was not able to open for many months. So revenues were down between 50% and 90% for many businesses," he says.
As well as COVID-19 measures such as social distancing, staffing shortages are also a problem for many hospitality businesses.
"Trying to resume operations, they (restaurants) are finding it really hard to find staff," Trunkfield adds.
Despite challenges, the opening of the central London restaurant, Imad's Syrian Kitchen, is a celebration of Syrian cuisine and the easing of lockdowns.
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