Gourmet menu, healthy food at café Evergreen

For months, it has been the subject of shouts and murmurs, and last weekend, it finally became the talk of the town. Evergreen Organics, touted as the first 100 per cent vegan café in Qatar “sprouted”, as the owners say, at Qanat Quartier, The Pearl-Qatar, throwing open its doors to a rush of curious visitors and special guests through the weekend.
“I am very excited about how everything has come together. It’s wonderful that we get to share our ideas, our concept, and our journey that takes you to back to food that’s fresh and full of life, and an ambience that takes you to the jungle, to the lap of nature,” Ghanim al-Sulaiti, who can now safely stake a claim to the title of ‘The Qatari Vegan’, tells Community.
A tunnel engineer for Qatar Rail and a spirited marathon runner, al-Sulaiti turned vegan around three years ago. Along with Joujou Alfardan, al-Sulaiti has founded Evergreen Organics, which has earned the two young and innovative Qatari entrepreneurs the distinction of presenting to Qatar’s people a most unique proposition – a completely plant-based menu that screams variety, guarantees rejuvenation, and is a stickler for taste.
But is Qatar, which abounds in fast food chains and calorie-dense feast outlets, interested in embracing a concept that puts healthy above everything else? “Had one asked me this a week ago, I wouldn’t be too sure,” says al-Sulaiti, “But in the last four days, I know for certain that people indeed want to eat healthy, delicious, real, whole food that’s fresh and organic. We had a full house on our first weekend. People of Qatar have been waiting for such an alternative eating avenue for so long. They aren’t craving for junk but for food that’s wholesome, delicious and satisfying. However, what’s mostly available out there isn’t healthy food. That’s where we come in.”
You better believe al-Sulaiti and Alfardan when they say that their focus is on “seasonal, local, organic food that is fresh, vibrant and full of energy.” Fresh cold-pressed juices – a bottle of their signature green juice, for instance, packs in one kilo of organic pressed veggies such as spinach, romaine, fennel, apple, parsley, cilantro, mint and lime – and salads, sandwiches, burgers, nutritious plates and bowls, smoothies, botanical teas, artisanal coffees, and a range of desserts are among the features of the menu.
Al-Sulaiti insists that Evergreen Organics isn’t merely a vegan café. “It’s about a lot of things; the ethos, the experience, and educating people about the benefits of eating healthy, to name a few.” Speaking of ethos, the duo believes in “supporting local, regional food and building relationships with independent farmers and suppliers to ensure we know where your food comes from.” Their website announces: We support the concept of use, recycle, and reuse. That’s why all of our packaging is fully biodegradable, the wood we use in-store is reclaimed or recycled, the bowls we serve our food in are made from sustainable materials, and even the ink we use to print our menus is plant-based.
“While people know what healthy food is, the task is to get them into the restaurant and let them experience plant power for themselves. We are aware that most of our customers won’t be vegan or vegetarian. So the way we have been promoting our café is by convincing people to eat one vegan meal in a week, then one in a day, and so on,” explains al-Sulaiti, “I see people are tired of eating the same meat, chicken and fish in their meals. If given a choice, they would want to make a connection with their food again. I have met youngsters who don’t know how a cucumber tastes. While many of us don’t eat vegetables on a regular basis, eating veggies helps eliminate the residue of dairy and animal products in our bodies, enabling us to start relishing fresh, green food.”
Most of us would want to know where really our food is coming from, feels al-Sulaiti. “It is, in fact, in the desire to fill that knowledge gap that the concept of Evergreen Organics was born,” he says, “After a long wait, we have been trying to open our café for the past three months. We finally chose September 1 as our opening day and stuck to it. We have been promoting the café on social media, mainly Facebook and Instagram, and doing fun countdowns to the big day.”
Al-Sulaiti and his team have spent a lot of time over the past months researching on procuring organic produce, interviewing candidates who would be the right fit, and gleaning insights into the gourmet restaurant business. From his many travels across the globe, the cool knickknacks that he picked up, adorn the café. “Every country I visit, I check out its vegan restaurants, talk to its people and discover the challenges,” he says, “For us, what had started as a small idea has grown to be so big and beautiful; even in terms of size, our initial plan was to have a 42 sq m café, which is now 183 sq m, offering everything from whole food section to takeaway deliveries.”
Despite all the preparation for this passion project, finding chefs was especially hard. “But in the end, we have managed to get on board some super talented ones, such as Matt Dowens, Executive Chef, and Maros Weiser, Sous Chef, among others,” al-Sulaiti says, “Most of our supplies is sourced from local farms. By local, I mean Qatar but also the UAE and Saudi Arabia, from where food can reach us in seven hours. Of course, we order some specialty ingredients from other parts of the Middle East and also the West.”
Al-Sulaiti admits that there’s no working around the cost of organic products or vegan gourmet food overheads. “Organic is expensive. That’s true. But from the feedback we have received, 80 per cent people said they prefer our food to the food they eat at some of the five-star hotels in Qatar. Also, in terms of pricing, our fully organic vegan burger is QR85 and all our ingredients, be it the the sauces, pickles or desserts are prepared in-house, whereas a much unhealthier burger at a five-star would cost twice as much.”
The massive turnout on the opening day, Thursday evening, spoke volumes about the restless wait of the city’s health-conscious lot for scrumptious organic, vegan food, while the quality of food and service surpassed the hype in style. “The launch saw around 150 people. It was great to see everyone thirsty and hungry for real food. We want to reach out to as many people as possible, across sections. Interestingly, the event brought together both Qataris and expats under one roof, which is almost unheard of in restaurant openings in Qatar except perhaps in five-star hotels.”
As for those who still ask al-Sulaiti the classic ‘where do you get your protein from’, the 24-year-old calmly mouths the same answer: legumes, grains, soya, chickpeas, green leaves like kale and spinach. Kale, in fact, has more protein than a pound of meat, he adds for effect. “My vision is to present an alternative,” al-Sulaiti says, “To show people that we don’t have to eat meat and that plant-based food can be extremely delicious and filling. In fact, it changes your taste buds because you start tasting real food.”