SPECIAL:
THE PEOPLE EDITION
COVID-19
cars was a nightmare and soulless,” he says. With his plans to open restaurants in mind, he soon started inviting friends to his home for dinner “In Syria my crowd was all Syrians but here [in London] you have many nationalities and different backgrounds, so I had to take a survey from everyone from every background,” he says. The informal supper clubs got great feedback and marked the start of a series of pop-ups, mostly done in support of charities including Choose Love and UNICEF, which he launched in March 2017. “We did something like 48 pop up restaurants and supper clubs around the UK and abroad.” His philosophy in work and life is one
of generosity of kindness. “Somehow, I feel, when you love people, they will love you back. I believe in this and I honestly love everyone,” he says. “When you give something and you feel happy about giving it you will be paid back, I really do believe in karma and this is something there is no question about.” Considering his story and given the chance to do it all over again, he would not change a thing. “I think there is a reason for everything; knowing what I know now, I would choose my reality right now,” he says. “I always say I am very lucky. Since day one I felt lucky. Even when I lost
my restaurants when I think about it now. Maybe this happened to enable my daughters to get a great education or maybe a better future for us all, I don’t believe in bad luck.”
On reflection, he says the experiences
of the last decade have made him appreciate everything. “I used to take everything for granted in my life. Now, I appreciate my bed because I spent a lot of time dreaming about sleeping with my legs stretched out when I slept on the steps of a church in Calais,” he says. “I hope people will really appreciate what they have right now. During the long journey between Macedonia, Serbia and Hungary I was desperately in need of any warm food or drink – these are things we take for granted. We don’t think about sleeping with a roof over our heads.” His extraordinary journey came full circle four years after arriving in the UK when he opened Imad’s Syrian Kitchen. Taking on the central London site in June 2020 in the middle of the Covid pandemic was daunting, but Alarnab had no hesitation in accepting this “opportunity to take a risk” as he describes it. “When I showed the site to my daughters, they said I was crazy because there was no one in central London; this was June 2020 and the city was dead and empty,” he says. “But I thought ‘it is either now or maybe never’.”
“When you love people, they will love you back. I believe in this and I honestly love everyone. When you feel happy about giving something you’ll be paid back”
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