New restaurant extends olive branch of welcome

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This article was published 22/09/2021 (1824 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Walking through the doors of Zaytoon it’s hard to imagine the space was ever anything other than a restaurant. Less than a year ago, however, the Osborne Village eatery was outfitted with change rooms, clothing racks and display counters.

“Everything in this store was done by the three of us,” says Bassma Zahran, who opened Zaytoon in August with friends Huthaifa Alomari and Mohammed Watan.

“Everything” included building a full kitchen from scratch, constructing a long café counter, making tabletops by hand and tearing down the wall that used to separate Hush and Shout — a women’s clothing retailer that has since relocated. The result is a bright, airy bistro filled with gold accents and greenery reminiscent of the restaurant’s namesake. 

“The direct translation of the word ‘zaytoon’ in English is ‘olive tree,’” Zahran says. “It means strength, power and the olive branch is the peace symbol… also, olive oil is one of the major ingredients in our Middle Eastern cuisine.”

Zahran, Alomari and Watan all immigrated to Winnipeg from Jordan at various times over the last 20 years. The trio met while working at a local restaurant and became fast friends. The idea to open their own place came about suddenly during the pandemic.

“We were laid off of work and we had this passion to open a restaurant after the idea came up as a joke,” Alomari says, laughing.

“It started as a joke, but we loved this idea,” Zahran adds. “We started working hard on it and things moved really fast.”

Watan also owns Layla’s Cafe, a hookah lounge off Kenaston Boulevard, and has become Zaytoon’s resident multi-tasker — helping navigate the logistics of opening and daily operations, while also lending a hand in the kitchen and doing table service.

Alomari, a longtime barista who helped open many cafés in his birth country, is in charge of the beverage program, which includes hot and cold drinks, such as Turkish coffee, sahalab (a Middle Eastern milk pudding) and karkadieh (an iced hibiscus tea), as well a selection of fresh juices.

“My first job at a coffee shop was, like, 15 years ago,” he says. “I didn’t have any idea that coffee is a whole world — there’s different beans, different roasts, different styles. It was something that hit me there; I want to be in this world.”

Zahran is a mother of five and has spent much of her life cooking for family and catering events for friends.

She learned to cook from her mom — whom she describes as a “super cook” — and has done her best to create a menu that represents her roots while adding modern touches to authentic Middle Eastern dishes. Arabic tacos filled with shawarma meats and falafel fall into the latter category.

“I’m not changing the flavour,” she says. “But I’m twisting it in a way to see if people like it more, especially here, you know, it’s a different culture.”

Zaytoon’s menu includes shareable plates, such as stuffed grape leaves and hummus; a selection of salads and wraps; and mains including a shawarma plate, musakaa and shakshouka.

The grilled lamb ribs were a musthave for Zahran.

“Lamb, in our culture, is the way you happily welcome your guests at special occasions and parties,” she says. “We wanted to welcome our customers the way our parents, our grandparents used to welcome their guests.”

Over the years, Zahran, Alomari and Watan have become more than friends — they’ve found a sense of community and an adoptive family with one another. They hope to do the same for their customers.

“All of us are friendly with people,” Watan says. “We make sure they should leave with a smile.”

Zaytoon is located at 203-99 Osborne St. and is open for takeout and dine-in service Monday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Visit zaytoonwpg.com for more information and a full menu.

eva.wasney@freepress.mb.ca 

Twitter: @evawasney