The Syrian Cuisine Edition
On taste, history, and nuance
Colin here. The farther you get from the region, Middle Eastern cuisine tends to get lumped into one holdall thing: hummus, grilled meats, veg, etc. But of course, there are beautiful subtitles and nuances from country to country and region to region. I recently had a delicious spread of Emirati breakfast foods at the classic Arabian Tea House in Dubai, and also lots of Lebanese and other delicious regional variants. But it was very clear to see that one of the hottest restaurants in town was Syrian: In June, Orfali Bros. debuted on the overall World’s 50 Best Restaurants list at No. 46, after topping the MENA region dining charts. Bloomberg unpacks the trend:
As demand for Middle Eastern cooking and ingredients has risen in the past several years, fueled by its relative low cost and healthy profile, Syrian food in particular has garnered attention.
In London, the acclaimed Imad’s Syrian Kitchen is moving to a bigger location on Carnaby Street to accommodate its growing audience. The cuisine is also getting recognition in New York, thanks to the new Brooklyn spot SYKO. Its menu includes such dishes as meaty sujak sandwiches, featuring the Syrian beef sausage with garlic paste and pickles. In Los Angeles, the year-old pop-up Nawal from brothers Armbay, Dotee and Danny Zakaria has a short list of changing Syrian specialties that also often includes a sujac wrap and sandwiches with the walnut-stuffed baby eggplant known as makdous,
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Why is this interesting?
I’ve written in past WITIs about food as culinary diplomacy. And surely, due to the ongoing, brutal war, there has been a rise in interest in this particular cuisine. But there’s something more to it. Part of it is the inherent healthiness: a lot of it is grilled meat and fresh vegetables. Part of it is cultural history: Orafi told Bloomberg, “Its long history and global migration has also made the food “complex.” The piece continues: “Though several of Syria’s well-known dishes are classified as Levantine, there are some defining Syrian dishes, such as the well-spiced chopped meat and bulgur dish kibbeh; tabakh roho, a lamb and vegetable stew; and shish tawook (or taouk), the popular grilled chicken skewers.”
And while Dubai (where Orfali is thriving) can seem like a Vegas-ish caricature to the outside—a recent playful podcast quip questioned if Nobu was perhaps most representative of the city’s cuisine—when you look deeper, chefs like Orfali are sharpening and re-contextualizing their native cuisines on a discerning global stage. (CJN)
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Thanks for reading,
Noah (NRB) & Colin (CJN)
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