(From left) Shawarma Bistro owners Ahmed Alhasani and Mohammed Mohammed (Photo by Jay Paul)
In an unassuming shopping center in Henrico, two brothers from Iraq, Mohammed Mohammed, 34, and Ahmed Alhasani, 25, are drawing a diverse crowd of diners from the Richmond region and beyond with their from-scratch Middle Eastern cuisine. Located at 12422 Gayton Road, Shawarma Bistro is the type of place you almost want to keep a secret, one whose menu transports patrons to a world of kibbe, baba ghanoush, okra stew and, of course, the main attraction — rotating spits of glistening, slow-cooked meat.
Richmond magazine: When did you start the business?
Mohammed Mohammed: I’m a local fireman, and my brother is a chef, and we started a small, multicuisine food truck that looked like a fire truck in 2016. It had a completely different business name, and we started taking it to events, and it was extremely busy and nonstop booking. We got this spot in September 2020. We have people come from Williamsburg, Charlottesville, Virginia Beach and Northern Virginia.
RM: When did you come to Richmond, and what brought you here?
Ahmed Alhasani: I came here in 2016 from Turkey. I was talking with [Mohammed] and said, “I want to do something for me, I want to work for myself.” I was living in Turkey and had worked in six or seven restaurants there. I started cleaning tables, and one day I got hired in [a] kitchen when they needed help. From there it clicked. … When we opened this, I said, “I want to do it the way we do back in Turkey and Syria.” Everything is from scratch, especially the shawarma.
Mohammed: I left Iraq in 2005 and went to Syria and got an opportunity to come to the U.S. in 2008 and came here seeking education. I started going to school and started volunteering for the fire department, and that’s now my full-time career.
RM: Was cooking a big part of your lives growing up?
Alhasani: We were always cooking in the house, and it was very rare that we would go out to eat — on weekends is when we would go to restaurants. When I was growing up, it used to be like, “Hey, Mom and Dad, I want to eat shawarma,” especially on Fridays. That’s why we wanted the open kitchen, because if you travel to Turkey or Middle Eastern countries, the restaurants are similar. People want to see where the food is prepared. That’s how they feel comfortable that the food is clean, and we want to bring the same vibe here.
RM: How would you describe your clientele?
Mohammed: It is all over the place. One of the reasons we put “me gusta” [on our T-shirts] is because we have a large Spanish population that comes in, especially from Venezuela and Mexico. It’s the [eye-catching] meat on the spit, like al pastor, it’s similar to what they are used to. We also have a lot of Arabic folks who come in, because the closest thing they have to something like this is in D.C.
