How Arab cuisine is influencing the dining scene in Philippine capital

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Updated 28 January 2025
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How Arab cuisine is influencing the dining scene in Philippine capital

  • Family-style Middle Eastern meals align with Filipino get-together traditions
  • Exposure to Arab cuisine is making Filipinos appreciate its nutritional value

MANILA: More and more Middle Eastern restaurants are popping up across Manila, influencing Filipino dining with flavors and styles that differ from local food traditions.

Everywhere you turn, there is a new spot serving comforting, smooth, creamy hummus, perfectly grilled juicy kebabs, shawarma with tender, seasoned meat wrapped in pita, and more.

“They’re everywhere and I love it,” said Jacob Lazaro, a journalist in the Philippine capital, who has developed a taste for Arab food over the past few years. And he is far from alone.

For fellow Manilenos, Trisha Santa Cruz and her husband, a trip to Meshwe — a Lebanese restaurant in the capital region’s Quezon City — has become a habit, especially after workout, when they want to eat healthy food.

“It’s complete with protein, there are carbs, and there are always vegetables. So it’s complete, very palatable to our taste,” Santa Cruz said.

The owner of Meshwe, Nathaniel Mounayer, who opened the restaurant in 2013, has in recent years noticed a growing interest in Middle Eastern food among Filipinos.

“When I was still a college student, Middle Eastern food was a very niche market ... but the Filipino palate has been growing ever since, and we’re getting more and more newcomers — not necessarily people who have visited the Middle East, just people who want to explore and try different cuisines,” he said.

Filipino customers were initially most interested in barbecued meat dishes, and the restaurant catered to them. This is also reflected in its name, which is Arabic for “grilled.” Over time, however, especially when the spot became popular with Arab students, Mounayer started cooking traditional Levantine home meals for them, which included vegetable specialties.

“Filipinos were like: ‘Hey, can we try?’ From then, it grew, and it grew, and we started adding them into our menu regularly,” he said.

“Filipinos have always been very adventurous in trying different cuisines. So, it gives us, as a restaurant, as a chef, more confidence to introduce not only the typical Middle Eastern dishes, but (also) dive into more regional, more traditional home cooking.”

More exposure to Arab cuisine has allowed Filipinos to also appreciate its nutritional value and the way the dishes are cooked.

“I like Middle Eastern food because I know it’s halal and healthy. I trust the way it was prepared. My introduction to Middle Eastern food was through the shawarma. Then I tried hummus and kebab. I also discovered mulukhiyah, or we call it saluyot, and their special desserts,” Baleno Reyes, a government worker, told Arab News.

“Now, I usually order Middle Eastern food online instead of pizzas, which used to be my go-to food when I didn’t feel like cooking. Growing up, it was always pizza for me ... as a kid I always loved pizza. But now, it’s time to go healthy.”

In their weekend evening outings, Filipinos most often opt for shawarma. Friends Weng, Rissa, Joey and Hannah, who were enjoying the dish at The Melting Potluck in Quezon City, said they were “team shawarma” and would not pass up any opportunity to have it together.

“Whenever we get together, it’s not possible without shawarma. It’s automatic,” Weng said, as the others laughed.

“It’s filling, not oily, and of course it’s delicious,” Hannah added. “Especially when there’s garlic sauce and it’s spicy.”

The Palestinian owner of The Melting Potluck, Khaldoun Asad, estimated that 99 percent of his customers were Filipinos.

When he opened the restaurant eight years ago, shawarma was the only dish he sold.

“It was a shawarma wrap with pita bread, and then we introduced rice. The Filipino people love rice. After that we put up another dish, hummus, and they loved it. And then we put up biryani and kebab, and all these dishes are our best sellers,” he said.

The flavors that he offered were the same as those he would prepare for his children at home. He believed that authenticity of flavor was what would attract Filipinos most.

“I did not make any adjustments. I stick to the originality of our food and that’s what the people love about it,” he said. “If you taste our shawarma, it’s very authentic ... and they love the authentic flavor.”

Middle Eastern restaurants are giving Filipinos a taste of something new, and they’re embracing it — along with the shared, family-style meals that perfectly align with the Filipino “salu-salo” (get-together) traditions.

Mohamed Al-Malek, a restaurant owner from Saudi Arabia who opened Arabic House in Manila two years ago, said the Arab style of dining “aligns perfectly” with Filipino culture.

“Filipinos love family-style meals, and sharing platters like what we have in our menu makes Middle Eastern cuisine a natural fit,” he told Arab News.

“Over the years, I’ve seen a growing curiosity and appreciation for international cuisines, including Middle Eastern dishes, as Filipinos become more adventurous with their dining choices. Middle Eastern cuisine has seen remarkable growth.”

Besides Filipino expats returning from Arab countries and Arabs settling in the Philippines, the driving factor for this growth has also been a “mix of curiosity about international flavors” and the “rise of health-conscious eating,” which boosts interest in dishes such as hummus, moutabal and mulukhiyah, Al-Malek said.

“Middle Eastern cuisine is carving its own niche. While Japanese and Italian are staples, Middle Eastern food offers something unique with its bold flavors and communal style. The future looks exciting.”


Shock in Jakarta, MPs demand action after Israel assassinates Indonesian hospital director

Updated 3 min 26 sec ago
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Shock in Jakarta, MPs demand action after Israel assassinates Indonesian hospital director

  • Dr. Marwan Al-Sultan, renowned cardiac surgeon, was killed in targeted Israeli airstrike
  • Israel has killed at least 492 doctors and health workers in Gaza since October 2023

JAKARTA/DUBAI: Israel’s assassination of Dr. Marwan Al-Sultan, director of the Indonesian hospital in northern Gaza, has sparked shock in Jakarta, with parliamentarians calling for new international accountability mechanisms to hold Israel legally responsible for its crimes in Gaza.

A renowned cardiac surgeon and one of Palestine’s most senior doctors, Dr. Al-Sultan graduated from Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences in Hyderabad, Pakistan, in 2001.

He was killed along with his wife and children in an Israeli airstrike on their temporary residence in northern Gaza on Wednesday.

His surviving daughter, Lubna, told the media that the missile “targeted his room exactly, right where he was.” Her testimony confirmed statements from the Gaza Ministry of Health and the Jakarta-based Medical Emergency Rescue Committee — which funded the Indonesia Hospital in Beit Lahia — that the attack was a targeted assassination.

“The attack on Dr. Marwan was utterly savage and barbaric,” Dr. Sarbini Abdul Murad, chairman of MER-C’s board of trustees, told Arab News.

“It was a shock to hear the news. I couldn’t believe it. He was the only heart specialist left in the north. This is a huge loss.”

The Indonesia Hospital in Beit Lahia, one of the biggest health facilities in Gaza, was one of the first targeted by Israel when it started its deadly war on the Palestinian enclave in October 2023.

Dr. Al-Sultan had never left his post, remaining with patients through multiple Israeli offensives on the hospital and personally overseeing repairs to restore essential services, MER-C said in a statement recalling how in December 2024, he evacuated the facility while under Israeli siege.

The moment was recorded on a mobile phone, showing Dr. Al-Sultan leaving only after he had ensured the safety of every patient.

The Indonesia Hospital opened in late 2015. Coordinated by MER-C, its construction and equipment were financed from donations of the Indonesian people, with dozens of engineers and builders volunteering to design and build the facility and to prepare its operations.

The killing of Dr. Al-Sultan has spurred outcry in Indonesia, with the government issuing an official condemnation and lawmakers from the Committee for Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation calling on parliamentarians around the world to “push for international accountability mechanisms” to ensure that “crimes against humanity be immediately brought to international forums, including global parliamentary bodies, so that Israel can be held legally and morally accountable for its actions in Gaza.”

Israel has killed more than 56,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 133,000 others, since October 2023. The true death toll is feared to be much higher, with research published in The Lancet medical journal in January estimating an underreporting of deaths by 41 percent.

The study says the death toll may be even higher, as it does not include deaths caused by starvation, injury and lack of access to health care, caused by the Israeli military’s destruction of most of Gaza’s infrastructure and the blocking of medical and food aid.

Data from the UN and international health organizations shows that Israel has killed at least 492 doctors and medics in Gaza since October 2023.

Dr. Al-Sultan is the 70th health care worker to be killed in the last 50 days, according to Healthcare Workers Watch.

“He was a prominent medical figure, both as a heart specialist and director of the Indonesia Hospital,” Dr. Hadiki Habib, chairman of MER-C’s executive committee, told Arab News.

“We had feared that this could happen, but he had said that he would remain in Gaza and, if he were to be martyred, it would be in his homeland.”


Russian strikes kill eight in Ukraine

Updated 9 sec ago
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Russian strikes kill eight in Ukraine

Among the sites hit were a military enlistment office in the eastern city of Poltava and port infrastructure in the southern city of Odesa
The Ukrainian army reported there were “dead and wounded” at a recruitment office in Poltava

KYIV: Russia launched a wave of attacks on Ukraine on Thursday, killing at least eight people and wounding dozens of others, Ukrainian officials said.

Among the sites hit were a military enlistment office in the eastern city of Poltava and port infrastructure in the southern city of Odesa.

Moscow has stepped up its drone and missile bombardment of Ukraine in recent weeks, with peace talks stalling and Kyiv’s key ally Washington signalling it could cut military support.

The warring sides last met for direct talks more than a month ago and no further meeting has been organized.

The Ukrainian army reported there were “dead and wounded” at a recruitment office in Poltava.

Emergency services posted images of buildings on fire and rescue workers at the scene of the strike.

“Two people were killed,” the emergency services said. The region’s police added 47 people were wounded.

In Odesa, two people were killed when “an Iskander missile” struck the seaport, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said on Telegram.

He added that six people had been wounded in the strike.

In Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, strikes killed four people, the regional prosecutor’s office said.

“At least nine apartment buildings, three garages, a shop facade and a power line were damaged in the settlements,” it added.

In Russia’s Lipetsk region, debris from a Ukrainian drone killed a woman and wounded two other people, its governor said Thursday.

The debris fell on a building in Lipetsk, which lies about 400 kilometers (250 miles) southeast of Moscow, killing a woman in her seventies, Igor Artamonov wrote on Telegram.

Austria deports Syrian convict in EU first since Assad fall

Updated 25 min 38 sec ago
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Austria deports Syrian convict in EU first since Assad fall

  • “The deportation carried out today is part of a strict and thus fair asylum policy,” Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said
  • It was the first deportation of a Syrian directly to Syria in about 15 years

VIENNA: Austria on Thursday deported a Syrian criminal convict back to Syria, becoming the first EU country to do so officially “in recent years,” the interior ministry said.

Austria has been pushing to be able to deport Syrians back since the ouster of Syria’s leader Bashar Assad in December.

“The deportation carried out today is part of a strict and thus fair asylum policy,” Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said in a statement sent to AFP.

The ministry said it was the first deportation of a Syrian directly to Syria in about 15 years, and Austria was the “first European country to officially deport a Syrian criminal directly to Syria in recent years.”

Karner traveled to Syria with his German counterpart Nancy Faeser in April to discuss deportations, among other topics.

Karner, from the governing conservative People’s Party (OeVP), on Thursday vowed to “continue this chosen path with hard work and determination.”

Austria was among European Union nations that suspended all Syrian asylum applications after Assad’s ouster. It also stopped family reunifications.

Some 100,000 Syrians live in Austria, one of the biggest diaspora in Europe.

Austria’s anti-migration far right topped national elections in September though they were unable to find partners to govern, leaving the runner-up conservatives to form a new government.


Indonesian rescuers search for dozens of missing passengers after ferry sinks off Bali

People react as they wait for news of their missing relatives after KMP Tunu Pratama Jaya sank near Indonesian island of Bali.
Updated 38 min 36 sec ago
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Indonesian rescuers search for dozens of missing passengers after ferry sinks off Bali

  • Authorities dispatched a helicopter, 9 boats, 13 underwater rescuers to find missing passengers
  • KMT Tunu Pratama Jaya is second passenger ferry to sink off Bali in the past few weeks

JAKARTA: Rescuers were racing on Thursday to search for dozens of people missing after a ferry sank overnight near Indonesia’s resort island of Bali, leaving at least five people dead.

The KMP Tunu Pratama Jaya, which carried 53 passengers, 12 crew members and 22 vehicles, sank about half an hour after leaving Ketapang port on Indonesia’s main island of Java for a 50-km trip to Bali’s Gilimanuk port late on Wednesday.

Crew members on the ferry sent a distress call around 20 minutes after departure, but sank about 15 minutes later, said Mohammad Syafii, chief of the National Search and Rescue Agency.

As of Thursday afternoon, 31 people had been rescued as search operations continued for 29 others who were missing.

“Identities of the victims are still under data collection and verification by our team members on the field,” Syafii said during a press conference.

The agency has dispatched a helicopter, nine boats and a team specializing in underwater rescue to search for survivors, with assistance from local fishermen.

“Rescue efforts are facing challenges in the form of strong waves between 2 to 2.5 meters, and strong winds and currents,” the Indonesian Ministry of Transport said in a statement.

The ferry from Java to Bali usually takes about an hour and is often used by people crossing between the islands by car.

Authorities have yet to disclose whether any foreigners were onboard when KMP Tunu Pratama Jaya sank.

It is also common for the actual number of passengers on a boat to differ from the manifest in Indonesia, so there may be other passengers who are unaccounted for.

Some families were gathered at Ketapang port, located in the East Java city of Banyuwangi, for updates on the missing passengers, while survivors were taken to nearby medical facilities, including the Jembrana Regional Hospital in Bali.

Ferries are a common mode of transport in Indonesia, an archipelagic country comprising more than 17,000 islands.

However, they are prone to accidents due to bad weather and lax safety standards that allow vessels to be overloaded and operated without adequate lifesaving equipment.

In 2023, a small ferry capsized near Indonesia’s Sulawesi island, killing at least 15 people.

KMT Tunu Pratama Jaya was the second passenger ferry to sink off Bali in the past few weeks.

A fast boat carrying 89 tourists, including 77 foreign travelers, capsized in early June after it was hit by a big wave upon leaving a port on a smaller island off Bali. All the passengers aboard were rescued.


Danish police deploy to Israeli embassy in Copenhagen to examine a suspicious package

Updated 53 min 25 sec ago
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Danish police deploy to Israeli embassy in Copenhagen to examine a suspicious package

  • Danish public broadcaster DR showed photos of several police and emergency vehicles near the embassy
  • Police wrote on X that they had blocked roads near the embassy

COPENHAGEN: Danish police said Thursday they have deployed officers to the Israeli embassy in the Nordic country’s capital to examine a suspicious package.

Copenhagen police wrote on X that “we are present at the Israeli embassy, where we are investigating a shipment received.”

They added that “we currently have no further information.”

Danish public broadcaster DR showed photos of several police and emergency vehicles near the embassy, including what they reported was a hazmat emergency response team vehicle.

Police wrote on X that they had blocked roads near the embassy.

Anders Frederiksen, duty chief at the Copenhagen Police, told Danish daily Ekstra Bladet that “ordinary citizens in the area should not be worried.”

Security officials in many European countries have increased surveillance and protection of Israeli and Jewish institutions after a 12-day war broke out between Israel and Iran in June.

Last week, security officers arrested a man in the Danish city of Aarhus on suspicion of gathering information on Jewish locations and individuals in Germany for Iranian intelligence.

Prosecutors said the man was tasked by an Iranian intelligence service early this year with gathering information on “Jewish localities and specific Jewish individuals” in Berlin. They didn’t elaborate.

He spied on three properties in June, “presumably in preparation of further intelligence activities in Germany, possibly including terrorist attacks on Jewish targets,” prosecutors said.

German Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig said that “if this suspicion is confirmed, we are dealing with an outrageous operation,” adding in a statement that “the protection of Jewish life has the highest priority for the German government.”

Germany has requested the extradition of the suspect.