Cafe in Ajman serves up food and Emirati dialect
Businesswoman Al Suwaidi’s venture creates a buzz
AJMAN // A businesswoman has given cafe culture a novel spin by turning the buzz at the eatery she runs towards the Emirati dialect.
Ibtisam Al Suwaidi, an employee at the Ministry of Infrastructure Development, designed Ligma & Yighma – which translates as “a Bite and Sip” – from scratch and used the menus to teach young customers, among them students from nearby Ajman University, about dialect.
“Most youngsters don’t know all the Emirati terms our ancestors used, so when they come and look at the menu and ask us, ‘ what does this word mean?’, we explain it to them so they know their tradition,” Ms Al Suwaidi said.
“I also used some poetic verses from Emirati poems, songs and words in a creative way on the table paper, take-away cups, plates and sandwich papers, to open their appetite on food and let them read and know the traditional terms while eating.”
Ms Al Suwaidi said the cafe was unique for many reasons.
“It is something rare here to find an Emirati woman standing in a cafe but I want to show that the Emirati woman can supervise her business and be in any place, as well as [show] our Government has given us free- dom, confidence and equality with males,” she said.
Ms Al Suwaidi designed every detail in the cafe, from the decor to furniture to cutlery.
“I wanted to combine traditional and modern styles because my target in my business is youngsters, especially as the location is close to Ajman University,” said the mother of a 19-year-old son and a 17-yearold daughter. The decor combines themes from the UAE, the US and Europe.
Arwa Al Yafei, 35, an Emirati employee at Awqaf, said: “When my children knew that we were going to a cafe in Ajman, not Dubai, because we always go to Dubai, they got upset. But when we arrived, we liked the place. There’s decoration and music, as well as the chance to interact with the owner, who helped us in choosing food.”
Lina Abdulaziz, 18, an Egyptian resident , said: “The description of the place that my friends gave me pushed me to visit because I love the style of these cafes, and it is something amazing to have this in Ajman.”
Ms Al Suwaidi has designed every detail in the cafe, from the decor to furniture to cutlery