Chef Mireille Hayek to bring Lebanese restaurant Em Sherif to Harrods

Beirut-based restaurant group Em Sherif is to open its first European restaurant in London’s Harrods later this year.

The brand, which specialises in Lebanese cuisine, was founded by Mireille Hayek in 2011 and now runs 12 sites across the Middle East.

It will launch both a deli and restaurant in Harrods towards the end of November. No further details have been announced, but Em Sherif sites in the Middle East serve set menus with over 30 different dishes.

Despite having no formal chef training Hayek opened her first restaurant, La Parilla, in Lebanon in 2006. The success of this led to the launch of Yasmina, an Indian fusion restaurant named after her daughter. She named Em Sherif after her son and the pair have worked together across all her restaurant projects.

Em Sherif has franchise restaurants in hotels in Kuwait, Qatar and Damascus and has signed agreements to open in at the St Regis hotel in Oman and in Dubai, Baghdad, Egypt, Bahrain and Abidjan.