Yemeni food pop-up offers sumptuous fare
Traditional lamb dishes take over a coffee shop on weekends
Postmedia arts writer Stuart Derdeyn is a bloodhound in tracking aromas with the promise of good food.
One recent Sunday his olfactory system sent out an odd alert — odd because Creme de la Crumb, the coffee shop in the building where we work, is closed over the weekend.
Derdeyn tracked the source and came upon Alwaleed Ogbah’s weekend pop-up Yemen Haneeth operating out of the coffee shop, and those aromatic signals were from lamb haneeth, a Yemeni classic, central to feasts and celebrations. The lamb is rubbed in spices and marinated before a long, slow roast. Ogbah offered a sample taste but no need; the lamb had Derdeyn at hello.
After I heard of Yemen Haneeth, I didn’t waste any time and sped down there the following weekend. (Ogbah’s moving the pop-up from 200 Granville to another branch of Creme de la Crumb on Clark Drive from April 15.)
Ogbah follows his family’s practice of cooking the lamb with onions to blunt any musky flavour, and the haneeth is juicy, tender, aromatic and irresistible. He serves it with beautifully fluffed basmati rice, with hints of clove, turmeric and cardamom, a cucumber tomato salad, and spicy sliced potatoes. The kicker is a tomato sauce of fresh tomato, garlic, onion and jalapeno, which adds some electricity (it packs heat).
A small order of lamb haneeth is $16 and a large order $22. Traditionally, it the animal would be roasted whole in a clay-lined pit, but that obviously isn’t going to happen in a café.
If diners want to go big and go home, Ogbah complies: he’ll roast a quarter lamb for $150 (feeds six to nine); a half lamb for $250 (feeds 12 to 16) or a whole lamb for $450 (feeds 22 to 28) — and he’s got takers, especially from the Arab community, as the meat is halal.
Ogbah also makes chicken haneeth ($12 and $15) with the same sides, but it’s not his greatest strength. The texture seemed like the chicken had been over-brined. It’s cooked in the same way, but with difference spices.
He buys mostly New Zealand lamb, preferring its taste over others he’s tried.
“In Yemen, we buy lamb based on where they are raised. The grass affects the taste and we have areas that are famous for producing the best lamb.”
A multifactioned and chaotic civil war (including ISIS insurgents and Iran and Saudi Arabia interferences) rages in Ogbah’s homeland. “Avoid all travel to Yemen,” advises the Canadian government, and I won’t be visiting any time soon, but eating a country’s food is the next best thing to being there.
Ogbah says U.S. president Donald Trump’s travel ban against Yemeni travellers had a positive effect on his business — it piqued interest in Yemen, and customers came to check out the food.
Ogbah doesn’t have a background in food. He was doing very well in Yemen in several business partnerships until they all succumbed to the war. (One company rented and sold armoured vehicles to diplomats, oil company executives and other expats; another sold telecommunication systems, and another medical equipment.) His wife is from Vancouver, which explains his migration from the war-torn country.
“I talk to my family every day,” he says. “It’s not as bad as in the news. People are supporting each other, but struggling to find employment.” A two-year power failure hasn’t helped, he says.
If there’s one thing wars don’t manage to destroy in the Middle East, it’s an innate need to be hospitable. And Ogbah is exactly that — glad to see you, welcoming and open to sharing his story.
To make a living here, he learned to cook haneeth from his family in Yemen.
“I got permanent residency in January, and I was looking for work that I could capitalize myself.”
Ogbah’s taking it a step at a time. He hopes to start selling the lamb haneeth over lunch at Creme de la Crumb, and build on that. The next step is to open his own Yemeni restaurant.