Somali man finds solace in the kitchen
The aroma of coriander and cumin, and the sound of melodious songs filled the air at Safari Restaurant in Harlem, the first and only Somali restaurant in New York City. Safari is a small restaurant with about 30 seats. One wall has a burnt orange with the traditional Osmanya alphabet, an indigenous Somali script similar to Arabic that was invented in 1920.
Wearing a black apron over a maroon T-shirt, chef Shakib Farah trudged to the kitchen Thursday afternoon to prepare his favorite dish called hilib ari, or goat meat. Cooked for six hours and seasoned with coriander and cumin, hilib ari is served with rice stained yellow with turmeric. “It’s pretty much number one cuisine that we consume in Somalia,” Farah says. “I grew up into it as a kid eating a goat dish.”
When he was growing up in Somalia women were usually the cooks, but Farah says he was always the one cooking for his family. Sometimes his mother scolded him for being in the kitchen too much, and his sister expressed shock at his cooking skills.
“I was kind of the odd kid that likes to cook and being in the kitchen,” Farah says.
Farah used that skill to his advantage when he came to the U.S. in 2000 along with seven of his siblings. Away from home and the comfort of their relatives, they felt alone in Maryland. But Farah found solace in the kitchen. One day in the holy month of Ramadan, Farah surprised his family when he came home from school early and prepared sambuusas, a fried pastry prepared in triangles with a savory filling usually eaten during Ramadan.
“After that they realized I’m the chef in the house,” says Farah proudly.
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In 2004, Farah moved from Baltimore to Harlem. The opening of the restaurant in Harlem, he says, was a natural fit because of the neighborhood’s deep historical connection to the African diaspora.
“This area of Harlem was the first place where Somalis that first came to the States in the 60’s, 70’s used to live,” he says.
Surrounded by other African restaurants, Safari is a gathering place for local Somalis and those who visit New York. It also attracts diverse customers, some who live outside Manhattan.
“I’ve got people who ask me all the time that they come all the way from Queens and all the way from Brooklyn and then ask me when are we going to have Safari in Brooklyn,” Farah says. “Soon we’ll probably be expanding to other boroughs in New York.”
