A mum-of-three has opened a new Yemeni kitchen as a way of paying tribute to her stepfather. Leila Shamsan, 32, has set up Yemeni-western fusion restaurant Shamshack from the kitchen at Cardiff's Butetown Community Centre after her stepdad encouraged her to do it before he died of Covid.
Leila, 32, started selling traditional Yemeni food to friends and family during the coronavirus pandemic but only decided to make a real go of it after stepdad Cyril Payne's death aged 60, the Cardiffian reports. With financial backing from her mum Samira Salter, and the help of childhood friend Dee in the kitchen, the former waitress has made her dream a reality and hopes her venture can bring young people in the community together.
Since opening on March 3, Leila and Dee have been helping serve hungry children hot meals for free, operating a no questions asked policy, and offering a discount for pensioners and NHS workers. She said: "During this cost-of-living crisis, we’ve seen kids that we can tell are less fortunate – we give them free food. I guess it’s just maternal instinct; both Dee and I are mothers.”
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Paying tribute to her step-father, known as a pillar in his community, Leila added: “This restaurant is his legacy. He was a youth worker for over 30 years in the St Mellons area and like a dad to many of the children who attended the youth centre.
Reflecting back, she said his loss and the birth of her now two-year-old daughter had originally caused a loss of self-worth. "I had lots of anxiety after having my kids – I was just ‘Leila the mum,’ but this has really helped me. My stepdad passed away due to covid, he was the main push, and this restaurant is his legacy. He saw my potential,” she said.
“There was a fundraising football tournament in memory of him organised by some of the youths of St Mellons. They even made a trophy with his face on it."
With a menu that includes haneed, a roasted lamb dish native to Yemen and Shamshack special sauce, Leila said her Welsh and Yemeni identity is important to her cooking. She uses methods popular in Yemen like deep-frying meat, smoking rice on a grill and using clarified butter, however the entrepreneur markets her food as Yemeni fusion, eager to distinguish it from traditional Yemeni cuisine.
“Lots of people in Butetown are Yemeni anyway; they cook the traditional stuff at home, so I’ve made my food a bit different. It’s fusion food with a street food twist on it,” she said.
So far the most popular dish with young people has been the loaded fries, who Leila hopes to employ when her business is more well-established. “I want to make a change with the kids, get them working in my kitchen, and get them selling their own food so they can make money the right way and do nice things like take a trip to Oakwood Theme Park,” she said.
“I feel like my generation and older are a bit more community minded. When all these young people come in, it reassures me that they’re in the centre rather than the street. I hope it stays this way,” Leila added. She also encourages her young customers to take advantage of the community centre’s free facilities like internet and heating.
Despite the cost of living crisis, Leila is optimistic for the future of her business. Both Dee and Leila grew up in the Loudoun Square tower blocks and while Dee has managed to move out, Leila still lives in the tower block. She hopes that her success with Shamshack continues so that she can privately rent a house instead.
Her first ever business venture, Leila hopes to be a role model for her three children, who are aged three, six and 10. “We haven’t made any losses in these four days. The first day was crazy busy,” she said.
Leila, who used to advertise the business on Snapchat, rents the kitchen in Butetown Community Centre, which overlooks the tower block she lives in with her young children and partner. It's also not the first time her and Dee have joined forces – they used to cater for funerals there, a place that is both “close to my heart” and physically close to Leila.
Like many businesses in tight-knit Butetown, customers find her through word of mouth, and she has leafleted in her tower block. Butetown Community Centre is close to two mosques, Noor El Islam, and the South Wales Islamic Centre, so Leila hopes to attract Muslim customers after their Friday prayer.
Leila sources her meat from butchers on Bute Street in order to support local businesses. She is keen to partner with Deliveroo and UberEats in the future and wants to be a vendor for Butetown Carnival in August.
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