Imad Alarnab

The Path

Restaurant work in Damascus, Syria gave Imad Alarnab a wide operating range early on: owner and restaurateur across three restaurants, several juice bars, and coffee shops until 2015. Moving between those formats meant working at different tempos, with different expectations of service, and with the same core task each time: making a room feel hospitable while keeping the food moving. Since 2017, that line has continued as owner and chef of Imad's Syrian Kitchen, alongside his role as executive chef of JB. Read together, the posts point to a cook shaped by repetition, scale, and the practical discipline of feeding people well.

The Work Today

The current work is built around two jobs that ask for both control and flexibility. As owner and chef of Imad's Syrian Kitchen, Imad Alarnab carries the responsibilities that sit above the pass and beyond it: shaping the kitchen’s identity, setting the tone of service, and keeping Syrian cooking legible in a contemporary room. As executive chef of JB, he applies the same standards in a different setting, where consistency, timing, and attention to detail matter as much as flavour. The craft here is not only in the plate but in the environment around it, where food is used to organise welcome and give a meal its social weight.

Signature

Imad's signature dishes include sweetbreads, lobster ravioli, chicken with bulgur wheat, baba ghanoj, and Syrian falafel. The range moves between dishes that carry strong regional recognition and others that suggest a broader technical span. Baba ghanoj and Syrian falafel anchor the list in familiar Syrian and Middle Eastern vocabulary, while chicken with bulgur wheat adds a grounded, sustaining register. Sweetbreads and lobster ravioli sit at another end of the spectrum, showing that the repertoire is not limited to a single mode of cooking. As a group, the dishes point to a kitchen practice that can hold comfort, refinement, and recognisable flavour at the same time.

In Their Words “This is why food is always able to bring people together.” These lines frame cooking as a social practice first: a way to gather people, register gratitude, and keep community in view. The language is personal, but the idea is practical—food works because it gives people a reason to sit down together.