“At the beginning everyone laughed at me, saying there were already too many kebab places,” says the owner, Radovan Zahra, a pharmacist by training. He serves halal food to his customers – no alcohol and no pork. The menu includes meat burgers and wraps, as well as homemade falafel and hummus. “All kebabs are basically the same, but I do it differently, the Syrian way.”
He has come to Slovakia – the homeland of his mother – from Syria twice. He opened his first McRado stand eight years ago. He lives in Košice with his wife and five children. Foreigners living in the city also come to him for advice, seeing him as a kind of “dad”.
He works alone in the restaurant, every day from ten in the morning until ten at night. His only day off is Sunday. “I don’t have such a big turnover that I need more staff. I manage perfectly well on my own and earn just about what I need.”
He loves his work, especially because of his regular customers, many of whom have gradually become friends. They like his food and do not want it prepared by anyone else, he says. Alongside familiar faces, new customers also come – Slovaks as well as people from abroad – and many are happy to return.
“People are fascinated by the fact that I always have a smile on my face. They think I have no problems,” Zahra says, smiling throughout the interview. “I’ve got about 500 problems, but they’re nothing to do with them. I push it down with a smile and don’t show it to anyone. That’s how I function.”
Pharmacy is like cooking