Paras Marwaha, owner of Osmow's, is excited to open Friday and for people in the Hat to try flavours they haven't had in the city before.--NEWS PHOTO KELLEN TANIGUCHI
ktaniguchi@medicinehatnews.com@@kellentaniguchi
Hatters will be able to pick up shawarma for lunch at 1820 Strachan Rd. when Osmow’s opens its doors on Friday afternoon.
The restaurant’s owner, Paras Marwaha, says he worked construction all over Canada and it let him see where there was a need for Mediterranean cuisine. He opened his first location in Calgary last June.
“I grew up eating Osmow’s five days a week,” said Marwaha. “I’ve always wanted to bring up flavours when I move away. So, I tried a lot of shawarma places, shawarma is all I eat and I didn’t find many flavours here. So, I wanted to bring what I loved about food out here.”
Marwaha grew up in Toronto where the Canadian chain Osmow’s began. He adds the chain already has more than 100 locations and he hopes to continue expanding out West – there are already three stores in Calgary and plans to open more in Edmonton.
He says the restaurant’s goal is to offer a lot of flavour while being healthy at the same time.
“You can eat this every day and you can still stay fit,” he said. “It’s kind of the need of the market right now, we don’t have too many places like Osmow’s … it’s a fast experience but it’s all healthy. Even our calories are way lower than what other people do and our calories are healthier calories. The main concept is that it’s healthy and it’s flavourful.”
Customers will be able to customize their orders on top of rice or salad, but Marwaha says for anyone who wants to be a little less healthy, Osmow’s has the best poutine.
“If you like poutine, this is the place you want to be,” he said. “French fries, cheese curds, gravy and on top you can get lamb, beef, chicken or mix all them up, mix two of them up and you can add toppings, too. You can get onions, green peppers, olives, whatever you want – it’s all customizable.”
He says COVID-19 has delayed the opening of the Medicine Hat location, but he’s excited to see how people react to the food.
“It still didn’t stop us from coming to Medicine Hat and we are really excited to bring all these flavours to the city,” he said. “I think Medicine Hat is one of the best places to be at. It’s a small city, people are friendly, there’s more local businesses here and people support each other. That’s another good thing about Medicine Hat.”
