In London, a Syrian chef infuses iftar with memories of Damascus

"Back in Damascus, Al Arnab owned three restaurants - rooms once alive with clinking glasses and the scent of grilled spices - before watching them vanish under a sky split open by war, walls shaken to dust, storefronts torn apart."

"In 2015, convinced exile would be temporary, he left Syria and travelled overland through Lebanon, Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, Hungary, Austria, Germany and France before reaching Britain. During two months in Calais, he returned to what he knew best. With little more than a knife and a chopping board, Al Arnab cooked for up to 400 people each night."

"He remembers his mother's hands most clearly. She would slice tomatoes and scatter the seeds onto the balcony soil, coaxing new life from the scraps. In Syria, they call it a 'green hand' - the gift of making anything grow. In London, Imad Al Arnab has grown something too: a restaurant that, each night of Ramadan, glows with strangers turned friends sharing lentil soup."

Imad Al Arnab, a Syrian chef, fled Damascus in 2015 after losing three restaurants to war, arriving in the UK as a refugee with £12. His family had a tradition of working in textiles, but after his father's warehouse was damaged in 1999, Al Arnab converted the remaining space into a restaurant. During his journey through Europe, he cooked for hundreds in refugee camps in Calais. In London, he rebuilt his career, now operating two acclaimed Middle Eastern restaurants: Imad's Syrian Kitchen and Aram by Imad at Somerset House. He marks Ramadan in his new home, drawing on memories of Damascus while creating community through shared meals.

Read at CN Traveller