São Paulo – “Sometimes parents say things that eventually turn out to be actual prophecies,” says chef Georges Barakat, who is originally from Zgharta, a city in North Lebanon, and has been established in Brazil for two decades now. When he first told his mother he’d visit relatives in the Latin American country, being the owner of the best Arab restaurant in São Paulo – according to 2021’s Veja Comer & Beber guide – wasn’t in his dreams, but Ms. Jeanette said, “Maybe I’ll come with you, and we open a restaurant there?”
In a roundabout way, that is sort of what came to happen, says the chef, who’d know how to make his own food since he was ten. During the Mechanical Engineering course, he lived in a fraternity, and when he went to spend the weekends at home, he arrived with laundry and left with a week’s worth of meals. Eventually his mother complained about the chore and cast him to help her in the cooking duties. “It was great – we got closer, because we cooked together and caught up. I told her about my stuff, and she told me about hers.” After graduating, working in Saudi Arabia, he used to call home and ask for a recipe.
In 2004, when he arrived in São Paulo, Barakat went to work in cloth making in the Brás neighborhood, planning on following the same path of prosperity found by his cousins. “But I didn’t like it. I remained five years in the business, as it was the time required to get my documents in order. After closing everything, I thought, and now what?” As nothing happens by chance, Ms. Eva, who was the owner of the place where they used to have lunch, retired and left many clients without their favorite restaurant.
Then his mother’s prophecy started to take shake. “I asked my cousins, if I make food, would you buy it?” As they said yes, he started preparing meals. First it was for five people, then orders came rolling in, and when he reached twenty deliveries a day, he decided to improve and grow.
“I went back to Lebanon and spend three months interning in my mother’s kitchen, noting everything. I weighed what went into her measuring cups and spoons and put this into a sheet, to standardize preparations,” he explained. After coming back, Ms. Jeanette came with her son to meet his son’s restaurant Shahiya and her granddaughter Luiza, who were born around the same time, 12 years ago.
The beginning of Chef Barakat’s restaurant
To start Shahiya, in 2012 Barakat made a deal with the owner of the small space in the Brás neighborhood – he’d pay rent but have no contract, so if the owner required, the property would have to be given back. When this day arrived, he moved on to a bigger place, with twenty seats, and then to a bigger still, in Chácara Santo Antônio neighborhood, with 120.
“But as the pandemic started and the contract came to an end, we decided to move out. Then we found a pizza place in Moema that’d been closed for over a year, and we rent it. In May we started renovations, and in August 2020 we opened the place.” At the time, Barakat was partner with entrepreneur Fábio Cavalotti, who left the business as the new phase started.
In the year following the reopening in a new neighborhood, Shahiya was chosen as the best in its category. “Here in Brazil, we’re all called Arabs, whether you come from Morocco or Egypt. I find it strange, as there’re over 20 culinary traditions under this umbrella. I for one make traditional Lebanese food. He explains he allowed himself to add a personal touch to some dishes while respecting traditions but revamp them without making them Brazilian. An example is his faláfel à l’acarajé, a mix of two versions of the dumpling – as acarajé supposedly comes from the falafel. Traditional hummus was added basil leaves, subtly changing the color of the chicken-pea dip.
At 45, he feels accomplished. “I didn’t imagine such a future, but I’m happy to have found this calling. That’s what I want to do and love doing – it’s a passion.”
Barakat is also a consultant chef at Esporte Clube Sírio, where he develops feast menus for the club’s member, and says he’s glad to arouse the emotional memory of guests. “I feel like I’ve won the day when someone says a memory was stirred up by my food!”
Read more:
Levant-based brands want to export Arab sweets to Brazil
Arab industries make everything from nachos to chocolate
Report by Paula Medeiros, in collaboration with ANBA
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
