Jul 3, 2023
“All the time focus on the positive things. Not the negative
things. Then the karma, it will come, it will reflect to
you.”
Meet Chef Osama Harwash and Chef Houssam Harwash. Two brothers
who came to Canada as Syrian refugees and rented a food stall to
begin crafting traditional recipes learned from four generations of
Syrian chefs. Listen as they share lessons learned from their
sheep-farming great-grandfather at the fall of the Ottoman Empire
and then tell us how mint and cardamom help make the perfect
lemonade for sweltering Torontonians.
I was riding past a tight row of graffiti-covered food stalls on an
absolutely scorching day in downtown Toronto when I spotted these
two gregarious brothers wedged into a tiny four-foot by four-foot
booth smiling, wishing “happy days to their brothers and sisters”
while making them chicken shawarmas, beef kofta plates, and grape
leaves for a non-stop line of faithful fans. A 4.9 rating with over
500 reviews on Google since they opened doesn’t lie.
But what makes them tick?
“The most important thing in Toronto is community,” Osama says “We
love Toronto. And we want to support our community So we make more
food to make more people happy.”
Maybe it's as simple as that!
Let’s take a break from the news flow, the omnipresent digital
tide, to come down to the sidewalk to hang out with me, Osama, and
Houssam as we discuss growing up with six brothers in Damascus,
800-year-old houses, the perfect drink for a good sleep, lessons
from ancient Arabic philosophy, the joys of taking time to slowly
craft perfect meals with love, and, yes, of course,
their 3 most formative books.
It was a treat hanging out with Chefs Houssam and Osama Harwash at
their wonderful Chef Harwash food stall at 707 Dundas St W (at
Bathurst and Dundas) in downtown Toronto.
Let’s flip the page into Chapter 125 now…
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