General · 2 March 2026
Syrian chef Imad Alarnab hosted King Charles at Soho restaurant
Imad Alarnab, 48, who fled Syria in 2015, has recalled welcoming King Charles III to his Soho restaurant in February 2025. Alarnab first invited the King during a meeting at Buckingham Palace in 2023, at an event honouring humanitarian work. He arrived in Britain with virtually no money and launched his first pop-up in 2017, supported by friends. He returned to Damascus for the first time in October, and said he now sees hope in people's eyes that was absent when he left in 2015.
Reported by AFP · How we write briefs