FOOD & DRINK
The rise of Moroc Anwar Cherquaoui talks to Jessica Alves about what inspired him and his business partner, Sa’eed Kazmi, to open Le Comptoir
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e Comptoir and London’s first vegan Moroccan restaurant Comptoir V, are both in the heart of Kensal Rise “My business partner and I opened Le Comptoir about eight years ago. At the time there were only a couple of restaurants on the high road, so we thought it would be a good opportunity to have a place in the area that serves great home cooked food.” “We always knew Moroccan food was going to be our focus. My Dad is Moroccan, so I grew up eating traditional food at home, and it’s my favourite. He’s always been the cook in the family, and was actually in the restaurant business himself for many years. Since the beginning, he’s played a big part in training our chefs, and taught them my grandma’s traditional recipes.” “We wanted to create something authentic. We feature art from Moroccan artists on our walls, and the furniture in our garden area was hand-crafted in Morocco. Our spices, like cumin, ras el hanout, and turmeric, we order in large quantities from there too. It makes a huge difference in our cooking.” Morocco’s most traditional dishes, like lamb tagine and couscous, are typically shared in communal meals. Anwar says: “Our menu is inspired by Moroccan and family tradition, so we encourage guests to share all of their dishes. While sharing plates have only just become popular in London in the last few
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years, at home in Morocco it’s a way of life.” Le Comptoir has been a huge success, winning Time Out’s Love London Award, as well as TripAdvisor’s Certificate of Excellence, motivating Anwar and Sa’eed to explore new restaurant concepts. Anwar shares: “Over the past 4-5 years, veganism grew as a trend, and we noticed that the sales of our vegan dishes in Le Comptoir increased. It started to play on our minds that opening a vegan Moroccan restaurant would be a good idea, particularly because many Moroccan dishes are naturally vegan, and no one else had explored it yet.” “We didn’t just want to do fake meat like other restaurants. We wanted to offer great tasting food that would be exciting for everyone, so we opened Comptoir V. Vegans and non-vegans alike travel from all over London for our food, and we’ve become really popular on social media because veganism is on trend.” “My business partner and I never started this thinking it was going to be as successful as it is. We just did it because we love what we do, so it is easy to keep improving.” Le Comptoir are offering Your Brent readers 20% off meals. All you need to do is quote Brent Magazine 20 or take a copy of the article in to the restaurant. The offer is valid until 5pm every day Monday to Sunday.
‘Our menu is inspired by Moroccan and family tradition, so we encourage guests to share all of their dishes’