Tomah Restaurant to reopen in downtown Hamilton six months after shutting down due to rent hike

It was half a year ago Mohamad Tomeh feared for his family's future, with his popular Queen Street South restaurant closing because of a huge rent hike.

Now, Tomah: Taste of Syria is reopening in a new downtown Hamilton location.

This swift return - he hopes to open at 242 King St. W. by the end of August - was a happy surprise to Tomeh's customers and supporters. When he posted the news to social media, reaction was wonderful, Tomeh says. He is elated, but not surprised. The secret of our success," he says, was the support of our community."

The new location, between Caroline and Hess streets, was once home to longtime diner Sunrise Restaurant, then a noodle spot and most recently a Thai eatery.

Customers at the new location can expect the same favourites - chicken shawarma wraps and much more - plus, he is hiring friend and experienced chef, Ayman Issa, to bring a new specialty: Syrian-spiced rotisserie chicken.

That's not the only new item coming, Tomeh says, the menu will be a happy surprise for customers.

Those same customers were outraged in February when Tomeh closed his Queen South restaurant after the building owner wanted as much as $2,000 more per month on top of the $3,700 he was paying for rent.

But Tomeh, who immigrated to Hamilton from war-torn Syria with his wife and six children four years ago, knew that he would return to make food for the community.

He knows his customers will be back too, because, he says, we make our food with love, not from my hand but from my heart."

Jeremy Kemeny is a Hamilton-based web editor at The Spectator. Reach him via email: jkemeny@thespec.com