Shoreditch restaurant Sohaila to publish cookbook honouring founder’s grandmother and Fat Macy’s homelessness charity

Nathalie Moukarzel and Meg Doherty, the co-founders of the Shoreditch Lebanese restaurant and wine bar Sohaila, will publish a cookbook of more than 100 recipes on Thursday 10^th September 2026 through Synergy Publishing, drawing on the restaurant’s menu and on the family cooking of Moukarzel’s Lebanese grandmother, after whom both the restaurant and the book are named. The book, titled Sohaila and subtitled Lebanese Recipes Made with Fat Macy’s, carries a recommended retail price of £30 and is available to pre-order.

The pair wrote the book over the past three years. Alongside the restaurant, they run Fat Macy’s, the social enterprise arm of the business, which supports homeless Londoners into permanent accommodation through a trainee programme that includes periods working in the kitchen or front of house at Sohaila. The organisation marked its tenth anniversary earlier this year. Moukarzel and Doherty first met while working in hostel kitchens, and the restaurant itself opened in the summer of 2022 at 232 Shoreditch High Street.

The title is a reference to Moukarzel’s grandmother – or teta – also called Sohaila, who is now 96 and still cooking. A number of the recipes in the book originate with her. Moukarzel grew up cooking alongside her grandmother, learning family recipes and cooking traditions rooted in Lebanese cuisine.

The collection includes dishes served at the restaurant over the years. Among them are the Sohaila signature Hummus; Batinjan el Rahib, a Lebanese aubergine salad; Toasted Pitta Fattoush; Chalkstream Trout Kibbeh Nayee; Grilled Sardines with chilli tahini sauce; a Mujaddarah Bun with rice and lentils; Spinach Fatayer; Mushroom Börek with port and brandy; and Grilled Halloumi with cherries and candied walnuts.

Main courses in the book include Chicken Shish Taouk with pickles, yoghurt sauce and dak dak salad; Chickpea and Aubergine Maghmour; fragrant whole Chicken Mograbieh; and Lamb Sweetbreads with lemony tomatoes and labneh. Desserts include Kataifi Pastry with macerated strawberries and honeyed cream, and an Arak and Cherry Granita.

As well as the recipes, the book documents the history of the restaurant and the work of Fat Macy’s, setting out how the business has used hospitality to create employment routes and opportunities for people leaving homelessness. Photography for the book is by Tara Fisher and Harriet Langford.

Food Desk

For further information and to pre-order the cookbook, visit Sohaila’s website here.