Shawarma House officially opened in Yellowknife on Nov. 29, bringing with it a taste of the Middle East and India.
For Zakaria Boukdich, co-owner of the restaurant along with Maamer Hamada, the decision to open in the NWT capital was a pretty easy one, in many respects.
“There’s a lot of people here, they’re familiar with shawarma, either from down south or all over the world,” said Boukdich. “Maybe they’ve travelled to the Middle East or India, where shawarma is very known and very popular.
“So there’s a lot of people that are missing that,” said Boukdich. “So it’s like a trip to the Middle East when they eat our shawarma. Our spices are typically from Syria, so that’s what makes our service special.”
While there are other dishes that residents can choose from, Boukdich confirmed that shawarma is the focus of the Shawarma House.
“Shawarma is the main dish on our menu,” he said. “Sides are like salads, baba ganoush — baba ganoush is typically like a dip-in, eggplants, the tabbouleh salad. (The salad) is 100 per cent vegan and made with parsley and onion, chopped onions and chopped tomatoes.”
Located at 5006 Franklin Ave, Shawarma House came to fruition through an agreement with an individual who Boukdich now considers a good friend.
“It was just a click of chance,” said Boukdich. “I met a guy and I was looking for a place. He passed me his number and everything and I called him right away… I’m glad that I know someone like him. He helped me a lot.”
Mustaja Alhajjy, who came to Yellowknife with his wife from Syria, looks after the eatery’s food preparation.
The restaurant met with an initial rush of interest, selling out of chicken shawarma and a few other ingredients on its opening day and had to close earlier than normal. Normally, patrons can expect Shawarma House to be open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. from Monday to Saturday.
For Boukdich, the decision to launch the business during the Covid-19 pandemic was the most troubling part.
“We were waiting for so long to just open our restaurant,” said Boukdich. “Every three months we’re delaying it. Then I was like, ‘You know what, I’ll just open it and let’s go for it.’ It doesn’t matter, whatever will happen, it will happen. If it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be. If the pandemic hits us hard, yeah, unfortunately, we will close. Everything is going good for now.”
The health department and the city have been quite helpful in getting the operation up and running, he added.
“The health department, they helped us a lot, they provided us with a report, we can open for 40 people,” he said. “The city also helped us a lot, they were like ‘We’re so happy that you’re opening a shawarma place here.’ Everybody’s encouraging us.”