The far-right kicked off once. Guess where they were eating afterwards?

How 9/11 inspired the Mosque Kitchen to open its doors and a mission to ‘cater for all’

Masab has acquired new skills working at the Mosque Kitchen

It is one of the mysteries of life in the south of the city, one that has led to confusion, rumours and even reputedly missed dates.

The Mosque Kitchen is one of the first places first year students and other new arrivals in the Capital are told to check out. Its Middle Eastern and South Asian dishes come bursting with flavour, in generous helpings, and are great value for money. But why are there two of them?

It is one of the peculiarities of city’s food scene that the Mosque Kitchen, celebrated for its Middle Eastern and South Asian dishes, shares its name with another restaurant just 100 metres down the road. As with most local curiosities, Newington’s twin restaurants are surrounded by rumours, with a variety of stories in circulation about how they came to be.

‘We cater for all’

Tucked away in the back of Maqbool’s Halal Supermarket on Potterrow, I met with Shafqet Maqbool, 52, over a cup of tea and some imported Turkish jaffa cakes.

Originally from Glasgow, Shafqet now lives in Livingston and works in Edinburgh with his two businesses, the Mosque Kitchen in Nicolson Square and the neighbouring supermarket.

The original kitchen on the grounds of Edinburgh Central Mosque was opened by Shafqet’s father, Ahmad, in a deliberate attempt to counter negative perceptions of the Islamic faith in the wake of the Twin Tower terror attacks. “It [the original Mosque Kitchen] started after 9/11…  It was opened up for awareness, to show that not all Muslims are bad… We cater for all,” explains Shafqet.