Inside the kitchen of Moeen Abuzaid, chef-owner of Arbequina

Moeen Abuzaid is obsessed with the study of good food. He’s been known to take a cookbook on a long flight, reading it cover to cover and jotting down notes like a student prepping for an exam. Yet, if you ask him how he became a chef, he’ll tell you he stumbled into his career by chance.

Abuzaid grew up in Jordan, where he got his start in the kitchen volunteering as a cook in a government-run co-op program. His talent behind the pass earned him opportunities to work in a string of hotels and restaurants across Jordan and the UAE. While working with Intercontinental Hotel Group in Aqaba, Jordan, Abuzaid had the chance to travel to Berlin to visit a sister property and work with chef Thomas Kammeier at the Michelin-starred restaurant Hugos. It was Kammier who gifted Abuzaid the cookbook below as a parting gift. It represents the beginning of a transformative chapter in Abuzaid’s career. “That experience opened up so many possibilities,” he says. “It’s when I started to really dive deep into food.”

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After several years staging in restaurants around Europe, Abuzaid moved to New York in 2009, armed with just a handful of English words and a determination to grow as a chef. There, he launched a successful pop-up series, the Broken English, and met his wife, Asma Syed-Abuzaid. When the pandemic hit, the couple relocated to Toronto, her hometown. And this year, Abuzaid opened Arbequina in Roncesvalles.

The restaurant marries the Levantine cuisine of Abuzaid’s childhood with his experience in Michelin-starred kitchens and his commitment to bold, thoughtful cooking. “This restaurant comes from the bottom of our hearts,” he says. “We source everything locally, and we try to maximize flavour by using everything available and minimizing kitchen waste.”

On Mondays and Tuesdays, when Arbequina is closed, Abuzaid turns his attention to his home kitchen. Those evenings are typically dedicated to batch-cooking meals to keep his family’s fridge fully stocked for the week. His staples are Middle Eastern classics like falafel and hummus. “You’ll always find them in my fridge,” he says. He even has a specialized falafel mould, which helps shape falafel in rapid succession with ease—it’s an essential tool in this kitchen.

Abuzaid also regularly whips up Indian dishes like nihari and biryani, which he’s perfected over the years with guidance from Syed-Abuzaid’s mother. And his focus on local ingredients doesn’t stop at Arbequina—it’s a philosophy he brings home too. His family shops seasonally and supports neighbourhood businesses as much as possible. Fresh produce, halal meat and eggs come from 19th Avenue Farmer’s Market and Carma Farms. For specialty items, they rely on Sunny Foodmart.

Abuzaid’s fridge is loaded with fresh produce, Turkish sausage, burrata and a loaf of Carbonaut bread. Watermelon—a household constant—is his five-year-old son’s snack of choice. And a mix of house-made and store-bought hummus guarantees they’re never without their favourite dip.

These jars are filled with homemade shatta, a spicy condiment made from chili peppers. It’s traditionally served with falafel, grilled meats or dips, but Abuzaid’s family loves it on just about everything.

Abuzaid’s shatta stash is bolstered by a lineup of hot sauces. Syed-Abuzaid loves to use the Maggi Hot and Sweet Sauce as a punchy stand-in for ketchup.

Abuzaid opts for Salaam Cola, a halal-certified alternative, over the usual Pepsi or Coke.

These jars of ghee and bone broth come from Just Like Mom’s, a pandemic-era project by Syed-Abuzaid’s sister that has grown into a thriving small business.

The idea to vacuum-seal Arbequina’s skewers came during the Roncesvalles Polish Festival, when passers-by kept asking Abuzaid if they could buy packages to grill at home. For now, Abuzaid uses the technique to transport prepped food home from the restaurant, but he’s considering selling skewers to customers in this ready-to-cook format.

This takeout box of manti—dumplings stuffed with spiced meat—and the accompanying creamy yogurt sauce are also from Arbequina. Abuzaid’s son has been nibbling on them since they landed in the fridge.

Abuzaid and his wife are avid chai drinkers. The teal pouch from Dubai-based Project Chaiwala is one of their favourites. Run by a family friend, the company sources tea directly from ethical and sustainable estates.

Abuzaid sources the spices for both Arbequina and his meticulously organized home pantry from his brother’s spice market in Jordan.

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These are some of the sauces and condiments Abuzaid reaches for most often when cooking at home. He prefers tamari over soy sauce for stir-fries, uses grenadine molasses to sweeten salad dressings or glaze kebabs, and saves the aged balsamic vinegar for dressing up charcuterie boards.

His family loves this sweet, nutty spread from Spoonful Dates for smearing over pancakes in place of maple syrup. The Earth Balance peanut and coconut oil spread is a favourite of Syed-Abuzaid’s that’s recently become tough to find in Canada—she stocks up whenever they travel to the US. The honey comes from nearby Carma Farms.

This sturdy copper mortar and pestle was passed down to Abuzaid from his grandmother. He uses it for grinding nuts and whole spices.

“If you go into any Middle Eastern kitchen, they’ll have this on the counter,” says Abuzaid. His family enjoys this classic duo of olive oil and za’atar as a bread dip, dunking the bread into the olive oil first, then coating it with the za’atar spice.

This Maida olive oil, made from arbequina olives—the inspiration behind the restaurant’s name—is a staple in Abuzaid’s kitchen, both at home and at Arbequina. Produced in Jordan, it’s his go-to for its delicate flavour balance and sustainable production. “It has a nice light taste and a full body—it’s buttery and fruity,” he says.