Serving Southern California since 2018
From Damascus to California
One family, one recipe book carried out of Syria, and a charcoal grill that has not gone cold since the doors opened.
How it started
One family, one recipe book
After leaving Daraa, Syria, the Ahmed family opened El Cajon's first Syrian restaurant in 2018.
Charcoal grills, shawarma carved to order, hand-rolled kibbeh and daily-made dips, every plate built on recipes passed down for generations.
Nothing here is a shortcut of something else. It is the food the family cooks at home, cooked for a dining room.
El Cajon is home to one of the largest Arab communities in Southern California, so the first guests through the door were neighbors who knew exactly what the food was supposed to taste like. That is a demanding room to cook for, and it set the standard the kitchen still works to.
The menu has grown since. The method has not: manakeesh in the morning, mezze made the same day, charcoal grills and shawarma through to closing, and kibbeh rolled by hand rather than pressed in a mold.
The short version
From one grill to two kitchens
2018
El Cajon opens
The family opens the city's first Syrian restaurant on East Main Street, with one charcoal grill and a recipe book carried from Daraa.
Today
A full dining room, seven days a week
Every shawarma still carved to order, every dip still made that morning, and 1,500 Google reviews behind the door.
Next
Mal Al Sham Anaheim
The same recipe book moves to Orange County's Little Arabia, minutes from Anaheim, Garden Grove and Westminster.
In the kitchen
How we cook
Four things this kitchen refuses to shortcut, because they are the difference between Syrian food and food that resembles it.
Charcoal, not gas
Every skewer goes over live charcoal. It is slower and harder to hold steady through a dinner rush, and it is the only way the meat tastes the way it should.
Carved to order
The spit turns all day and is cut when the plate is called for. Nothing is sliced early and held warm under a lamp.
Kibbeh rolled by hand
Shell, filling and shape, one at a time, by hand. A mold is faster and gives you a different thing entirely.
Dips made every morning
Hummus, baba ghanoush and the rest are made fresh each morning and finished the same day, never carried into the next week.
The promise
100% Halal
Every piece of meat that enters either kitchen is halal. Every branch, every plate, no separate line and no exception for one dish or one supplier. Guests should never have to ask, so we answer before they do.
Where to find us
Our locations
Two branches in Southern California. El Cajon is open daily; Anaheim is on its way to Little Arabia.
