Sarah Shaweesh modernises traditional Palestinian plates at this community-oriented Erskineville eatery
Nestled between Erskineville and Newtown is a small, bustling Palestinian vegan eatery. Khamsa Café holds the hubbub of clinking cutlery and coffee frothing between bright, white walls and floor-to-ceiling windows. The seating spills outdoors to a makeshift wraparound verandah where you’ll often find local pooches grazing at their owners’ fallen crumbs.
Khamsa (pronounced ‘ham-sa’) was founded in 2019 – but its story begins much earlier.
Ten years ago, Sarah Shaweesh, owner of Khamsa, relocated from Jordan to Australia and began learning more about veganism. When she was younger, her father took her to rallies, protests and events lobbying for Palestinian human rights in the face of Israeli occupation, and celebrating Palestinian culture. She cultivated a sense of responsibility and desire to minimise the negative impact she had on her surroundings – on all living things around her. “Because of the Palestinian struggle, it was important for me not to be involved in anything that enacted harm on the environment,” she says.
In 2015, Shaweesh began posting homemade vegan cakes for sale on Instagram. The popularity and success of her small business was the final push in inspiring her decision to open what is Australia’s only Palestinian restaurant to date.
“I decided to bring my two interests, food and Palestine, together. I was already working on veganising a lot of Palestinian food and desserts I grew up with.”
Read the review in Time Out.