Chef Shanthini or Shanthi as she is lovingly known in our kitchen grew up in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Her Katarica (eggplant) curry is unrivaled in NYC and all of her recipes represent the multitude of distinct Sri Lankan ingredients that she misses from home. Back in Sri Lanka, Shanthi also worked as a tailor. During COVID-19, she began making cloth masks out of old pillowcases, blankets, and even her son Sarujen (our Delivery Team Manager’s) old t-shirts (unbeknownst to him!)

Born and raised in Dakar, Chef Mariama started learning how to cook from her mother at the age of 9. When she first attempted to cook her now-famous Jollof rice, her mother punished her because it did not live up to her standards! Over time, with practice and under her mother’s diligent eyes, she managed to perfect it to the point where it now became a staple for her family and a crowd favorite for Eat Offbeat’s family!

Chef Bashir learned cooking at an early age from his father, who was a caterer and a butcher. As a child, Bashir acted as an assistant as his dad catered parties, weddings and other weekend events, sometimes for gatherings of more than 1,000 people. Today, Bashir’s two sons work after school delivering meal boxes and occasionally help in the kitchen! His signature dish, Chicken Karahi, is a crowd favorite.

For Chef Nasrin, cooking means love, life, family, friends, and making people happy. She believes you can really taste the difference that one special ingredient makes. Her family’s transition from Iran to New York was long, but she’s very happy to have settled in Queens. After four years as a Chef at Eat Offbeat, she is now launching her own brand of Persian sweets and eats and is known for running a lively Instagram feed!

Chef Diaa started his professional culinary career at an early age, initially working for his uncle who ran one of the top five restaurants in Damascus. He went on to open and run several restaurants across the globe, including in Russia, Sudan, and, most recently, Brooklyn! He currently runs Sakib in Williamsburg and supplies the Eat Offbeat kitchen with the best Kibbeh you’ll ever taste.

Chef Lebjulet is an engineer by training, and a talented chef at heart. She is fluent in English, Spanish, Italian, and Mandarin. Back in Venezuela, Chef Lebjulet taught university-level mathematics. On top of preparing delicious meals, she is often found running and building excel sheets to improve efficiency at the kitchen! She is most famous for her flavorful Caraotas Negras (Venezuelan style black beans), and her heavenly Tres Leches which has been described as “one of the best desserts I’ve ever had” by most.

Born and raised in Baghdad, Chef Dhuha says she practically grew up in the kitchen, helping her mother cook for their family of seven. She claims she’s made about one thousand Potato Kibbehs in the Eat Offbeat kitchen, but it’s probably closer to four times that number. In Iraq, she learned to always make plenty of everything, and that the point of cooking is to be generous. Dhuha’s baklava is unique and one of the best you will ever taste. Her Potato Kibbeh is a delicacy offered on special occasions only!