Banking on baking, habibi Jordanian in financial sector works with different kind of dough after joining wife, son in Winnipeg in south neighbourhood family business By: Eva Wasney Posted: 5:55 PM CDT Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023

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This article was published 10/10/2023 (945 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Baking isn’t Fawaz Alsayeh’s forte, but it is the reason he moved to Manitoba.

The Jordanian newcomer and former bank manager arrived in Winnipeg two years ago on a business visa that has seen him open Winnibakes, a Levant-style bakery in Linden Ridge, with his wife, Batoul Hussein.

“I’m coming from a totally different background in the financial sector,” Alsayeh says. “But my wife loves cooking… and all the time she was spending here, she told me there was room for us to do something related to food, but in a different way.”

Hussein and their son moved to Winnipeg in 2019. While living apart from her husband, she explored the local culinary scene and saw an opportunity to turn her fondness for cooking into a business venture that would reunite the family abroad.

Baking isn’t Hussein’s forte either, but she likes to “play with the dough” in her home kitchen.

“Maybe twice a week, I would bake (mana’eesh) for me and my son because he likes it so much,” she says. “When we decided to open this bakery, I put my passion here and I tried to make new flavours for everyone — especially for Canadian people.”

Mana’eesh is a savoury flatbread popular in Levantine cooking, which pulls culinary inspiration from a diverse group of countries along the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea, including Jordan, Syria, Palestine, Lebanon and Israel.

Hussein has created a menu that celebrates the flavours of the region while capitalizing on the global appeal of carbs.

“We all like to eat dough,” she says with a laugh. “You can create anything on the dough.”

While many of the menu items are inspired by popular dishes in Jordan, some of the recipes — such as the shakchouka mana’eesh, which features spiced tomato sauce, cheese and two sunny-side-up eggs — come straight from the home cooking of Hussein’s mother. “She’s Lebanese and her food is very tasty.”

Winnibakes is located in a strip mall surrounded by chain brands and big-box stores. The interior of the former flower shop is bright and airy, offering a calm and fragrant refuge from the busy parking lot outside.

Green leaves hang from the ceiling and ornate teal tiles surround the order counter. There are a handful of long tables for in-house dining and a glowing sign that reads “And that’s flat, habibi” — a reference to the menu and the familial atmosphere the bakery’s owners are trying to achieve (habibi means “my love” in Arabic).

In addition to coming up with the menu, Hussein is the brains behind the bakery’s design. Her top priority was putting the glittering tiled oven front and centre, on full display for customers (and their noses).

“When you smell thyme or za’atar cooked in the big oven… it makes you feel hungry and like you want to eat,” she says. “It gives you some warm (feelings), like home.”

While his wife has been in charge of the creative side of the business, Alsayeh has taken the reins on management and customer service. Turns out his previous career as a financial executive was perfect training for the job.

“I’m so happy, because all my life I was interacting with people in sales and marketing and relationship management,” he says. “Either me or my wife or my son is always here; we greet people and we’ll explain the menu because this is something new for most of them.”

True to his word, Alsayeh jumps up several times during our interview to greet customers at the door, take orders and run food. Baking may not be his passion, but attentive service certainly is.

“I like to meet people; I like to talk to people,” he says.

eva.wasney@winnipegfreepress.com

X: @evawasney