 |
Belly Dancing, Mint Tea and a Slice of Morocco
 Edward
Dutton interviews Said Zahaf the owner of Oulu’s
Moroccan Restaurant Marrakech.
Stepping into Said Zahaf’s restaurant really is like
stepping into Marrakech and this is exactly the way that the
twenty-seven year-old restaurateur wants it to be.
‘It was very important for me to create an authentic
Moroccan style and atmosphere. I want people to come in and
feel as if they were in Morocco for a while,’ he explains.
‘The style, the furniture . . . it is all from Morocco!’
All of the ornate lamps, mirrors and other furniture have
been ordered in from Morocco and Said brings me ‘Mint tea’
complete with traditional Moroccan style tea-pot and
goblets. It’s extremely nice!
‘We drink this all the time in Morocco! This is our vodka!’
he laughs, pouring me a second goblet full.
Oulu Destiny
Said, who opened his restaurant on Kirkkokatu six months
ago, can’t quite work out how he ended-up in Oulu.
‘Perhaps it was just destiny!’ he laughed. ‘It surprised me.
But there’s something special about the place. I like the
city.’
Said first came to Finland – for reasons of destiny that he
can’t quite explain – six years ago, started to learn the
language and trained to be cook and a waiter. He’d already
worked in this line of business in his home town of
Marrakech, the ancient city in the foothills of the Atlas
Mountains which is popular with European tourists. It was in
Oulu that he met his wife. During his studies, Said used to
prepare and organise Moroccan-style dinners and events for
friends and colleagues. The events were well received,
people liked the food and Said’s way of creating a nice
atmosphere. ‘That is how came the idea of opening an own
restaurant,’ recalled Said.
Like many Moroccans, Said speaks French and eventually he
left Finland for Strasbourg where he worked for two years in
a Moroccan restaurant and learned the ropes of being a
restaurateur.
‘Oulu called us back after the birth of our daughter,’
recalls Said. He also had many new business ideas, Said
wanted to come back to Oulu and six months ago the Marrakech
restaurant opened its doors.
Said points out that this is, ‘the first Moroccan restaurant
in the whole of Finland’ speaking over the Moroccan pop
music playing in the background.
Belly Dancing Night
As we chat, one of his waitresses – Halima – approaches.
Half of Said’s staff of Moroccan and the other half Finnish
meaning that the restaurant is able to cater for customers
in Finnish, English, French and Arabic. Also, the first
Saturday in each month is a special night where Halima and
others perform traditional Moroccan ‘belly-dancing.’
‘It has been completely packed on these Saturdays!’ laughs
Said. ‘Sometimes customers start to dance themselves!’
The day of the interview happened to be Ramadan’s last day,
the feast Aïd al-Fitr and for the occasion, many Moroccan
customers came for a meal and mint tea.
Normally, most of the clients are Finnish people. “People in
Oulu are of international spirit and eager to try out new
things” smiles Said.
Customers are encouraging and helping Said by developing
various new ideas such as the Belly Dancing Night.
‘Many people also suggested a Shisha Pipe section,’ says
Said. ‘But now smoking in a restaurant is illegal in Finland
. . . but many customers would really like it.’
In business terms, Said has found Oulu to be a good place to
found the country’s only Moroccan restaurant. He was found
Finland bureaucratic compared to Morocco but the
nevertheless he says of Oulu:
‘It’s a good place . . . new ideas are possible . . . It’s a
young town . . . all is possible . . .’ he says. ‘And you
get used to the climate!’ he adds wryly.
And there are quite a few things that Said misses about
home. However, one important way that he has avoided
homesickness is opening up his restaurant. ‘This is like a
typical Moroccan front room!’ he jokes. And, of course,
there’s now no problem at all getting hold of Moroccan food
in Oulu.
‘It’s a Peaceful Place . . .’
So Said has managed to acclimatise to living in the city.
‘It’s a peaceful place . . . it’s clean here . . . there is
beautiful nature and lakes nearby,’ he waxes. ‘It’s becoming
an international city more and more . . . and I had the idea
for my restaurant in order to help that,’ he says.
But Said also has some suggestions on how to make Oulu more
welcoming for international people like him. As moving
abroad is a big change in anyone’s life, ‘Maybe there could
some kind of welcoming ritual for foreigners . . . some kind
of official ceremony,’ he suggests. There is also a lot to
do, in Said’s view, to develop a ‘lively cultural life in
the city, like special cultural events open to everyone. The
restaurant cooperated with the City of Oulu for the event of
Oulu-days,” he tells me.
Said has managed to advertise the restaurant widely both in
Oulu and abroad. ‘I’ve done a lot of advertising in France,’
he says. Apparently, Moroccan food is very popular there as
there are a lot of ‘French Moroccans’ and French tourists in
Oulu ‘know exactly where to come’ to find their favourite
ethnic food when they’re here. He has also had customers
from Belgium due to this advertising.
Said also has various plans to develop his restaurant
business. There is now a special lunch deal where a set
lunch menu is only 8 euroes and he has various plans to
develop the menu with different kinds of Moroccan food which
has various influences from Andalusian, Arab, Turkish and
Jewish culture according to the restaurant’s
English-language menu.
‘Maybe we’ll have even more Arabic music and dancing . . . I
have various ideas!’ he says and leaves me to enjoy my Mint
tea after which I leave . . . intent on putting fresh mint
in my tea in future.
|
