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People come to café for food they ‘can’t find anywhere else’

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People come to café for food they ‘can’t find anywhere else’

Belal Kabalan thinks his latest venture offers Liverpool something it’s never had before.

Originally from Syria, the 38-year-old moved to the city 16 years ago to study engineering at John Moores University. After graduating, he worked as a telecoms engineer at Jaguar Land Rover in Halewood for seven years but decided he wanted a change.




Belal set up the international supermarket Melo’s in 2018, beginning on London Road before relocating to Williamson Street – just off Williamson Square in Liverpool city centre. Capitalising on their success with the shop, Belal and business partner Maria Charami set up Mediterranean café Blends in the unit next door at the start of May.

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A month into life at Blends, Belal spoke to the ECHO about what led him to run the café and how it has begun. He said: “I left engineering because I wanted to do something for myself, rather than stay in the corporate world.

“I also thought the city needed something like this. There was nothing like this, that was fresh, for the people from those countries living here and for the locals to try something nice and new.

Inside Blends Mediterranean Café(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)

“It is nice food – good, fresh ingredients – but sometimes it’s maybe not presented nicely in other places. Or it’s not up to standard.

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