São Paulo – A village in Lebanon’s Beqaa area lends its name to Zelleya, a halal restaurant and butcher shop in Brás, in downtown São Paulo. Known for its clothing and fabric shops, the neighborhood is home to numerous Syrian and Lebanese descendant families.
Zelleya, the village, was the birthplace of the father of Ahmed Hussein, who opened his butcher shop a year and a half ago on Dr. Pacheco e Silva Street, 37, on the corner with Padre Lima St. born in Paraná to Lebanese Muslim parents, he learned his trade from his father, a butcher back in Lebanon who stayed in his line of work after moving to Foz do Iguaçu, where Hussein was born. He later moved to other Brazilian cities before finally settling in São Paulo with his family in the year 2000.
“Upon arriving in São Paulo, my father worked at a restaurant and earned the trust of several clients. Then, in 2002, he opened the first Zelleya butcher shop, close by in the Brás area,” Hussein told ANBA.
The 30-year-old butcher learned to perform halal slaughter, carve beef and work the grill with his family. Halal slaughter is performed in accordance with Islamic rule, yielding meat fit for consumption by Muslims. In order to qualify as halal, restaurants cannot carry alcohol or pork.
The banquet
Besides buying meat to take home, customers can pick a cut to have at the restaurant – either as barbecue or in any other dish – directly from the shop window.
There were six of us at the table. We had kofta, beef and chicken barbecue, cheese, zaatar and meat sfiha, a typical meat sandwich, roasted tomatoes and onions, tabbouleh and fattoush salad, hummus, Arab bread and fries – which are some of the options for lunch. The bill was BRL 205, or BRL 41 per persons for a bona fide halal banquet, including drinks – water and soda – and dry curd. A great cost-to-benefit ratio.
Apart from the fact that everything is fresh and cooked to order, some dishes are hard to find elsewhere, like araes – a seasoned ground beef sandwich cooked on the grill. It’s lighter than a sfiha and really tasty.
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Two knifes is a kind of steak tartar made with top sirloin, as its name suggests, is prepared with two knifes. It consists of a finely minced beef with onions, mint and pepper. We also tried that – delicious.
What sets Zelleya apart is a fresh, clean beef that is ground or minced and prepared on the spot. The cuts vary according to each dish. “For kofta, we may use silverside, knuckle or eye round. For the barbecue, it may be rump cap, tenderloin steak, sirloin or top sirloin, as the client choses,” explained Hussein.
The butchery doesn’t sell poultry, but it’s on the restaurant’ menu. “Poultry is just for roasting. I don’t sell it or mix it with the butchery’s beef,” said Hussein. According to the butcher, word of mouth is what makes the restaurant successful. “I don’t call people up. Those who come here like it and bring their friends and their friends’ friends. Now, we receive Arabs, Japanese, Koreans, Chinese, Brazilians, all kind of people,” he said.
The corner address is modest but large, with white tiles scarcely decorated apart from a picture with a Quran phrase and a photograph of the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca, showing some Arab-Muslim tradition.
“It’s a new restaurant. We have a budget but want to improve things, service, do a renovation soon to have a more typically Arab decoration so that people can recognize this is an Arab restaurant in addition to a butchery,” said Hussein.
The butchery operates from 8 am to 6:30 pm. The restaurant serves cheese and zaatar sfihas for breakfast, and lunch starts at 11:30. Service runs till 6:30 pm. It also makes deliveries according to the region.
Arabic professor Mohamad Alsaheb, a Syrian who has lived in Brazil for five years and teaches at Centro da Língua Árabe, also in downtown of São Paulo, indicated us the restaurant. When a restaurant is attended by Arabs, you know it’s really good. This reporter went there at Alsaheb’s invitation together with other Syrians, Lebanese and a Brazilian. Everyone enjoyed it.
At the end of the interview, this reporter commented with Hussein that they didn’t try baba ghanoush, the Arab paste made with eggplant and tahini. He had just made some and gave me a container to take it home. Don’t forget to order it!
Quick facts
Restaurante e Açougue Zelleya
Rua Dr. Pacheco e Silva nº 37 with Rua Padre Lima
Canindé, São Paulo
Tuesday to Sunday, 8 am to 6:30 pm, including hollidays
Deliveries: (11) 94999-9299
Instagram: @acougue_zelleya
Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum & Guilherme Miranda
