Hummus is Banned at Akub Says Fadi Kattan

London has a new restaurant opening up right from the heart of Palestine. So if you are looking for new restaurants in London, we have a place called Akub for you!

Akub the name for this eatery is given to honor the plant of the Middle East. It is a tender stem with a tasteful flower bud and a super ingredient of Palestinian foods. It is a part of their poultry and stews.

Rasha Khouri who is the food entrepreneur behind Akub calls this plant to be “the essence of Palestine”.

“When I was working on another food concept back in 2019, I realized that even though London’s restaurant scene is very diverse, there’s still no interesting take on Palestinian cuisine,” shared Rasha.

She wanted to bring the flavors of Palestine to the world instead of everyone asking about hummus and falafel. This led her to connect with chef and hotelier Fadi Kattan, who founded the celebrated Fawda restaurant in Bethlehem in 2016.

“Palestinian farmers don’t necessarily have access to water supplies, or their own land, or roads to get their produce to markets, so I decided to just work with whatever I can get when I go shopping in the day: hence the name Fawda, which means chaos,” Fadi recalled his hotel experience.

“In London, we have much more flexibility, which is very exciting, but we are keeping the same ethos of using locally sourced and sustainable ingredients. I believe in nose-to-tail, as little waste as possible.” Kattan pored on his guture plans.

Akub will source meat and fish from the UK while spice and beverages will be sourced from Palestinian suppliers.

When asked why ban hummus he said, “It’s banned from my kitchen. There’s more to our food than hummus … It’s time for people to get to know the diversity of Palestinian terroir and cuisine,” he said.