Until 26 February, different groups of displaced people living in Luxembourg will prepare the buffet, serve and greet customers at the Grund-based eatery as part of an initiative from not for profit association “À La Table du Monde”.

“The goal initially was to enable Luxembourg residents to go somewhere nice to meet other people. We don’t often have contact with refugees, because they live in foyers, and may be isolated,” association president Clothilde Ludorf explained.

Each week the menu features dishes from a different part of the world, which is represented by refugees in Luxembourg. The food is prepared fresh each day for diners who eat around a large table in the middle of the room, which is decorated in the style of that week’s cuisine.

“When I eat this food, it makes me think of home, especially when you look at the table. You have the impression of being in a Syrian house,” Syrian national Husain Jagem, a volunteer from integration organisation LetzSy explained.

He helped decorate the venue with photos, placing water and flowers on the table, and assisting with shopping for the very specific ingredients required for Syrian cooking. “We had to go to Metz to find some ingredients…It’s the spices and flavours that are not easy to find and we need fresh ingredients,” he said.

In addition to the buffet, which is offered at lunch and dinner, diners are treated to an array of performances and multimedia presentations offered by the volunteers. On Sundays, a larger buffet is offered and a proportion of the cover charge is given to partner associations working with refugees.

For Syrian pastry chef and barman Mohammad Alzaher, known to friends as Moudi, the project gives him a brief respite from his studies at the University of Luxembourg, where he is a guest student.

“People told me what I made was delicious so I am happy to hear that,” he said, adding that this is not the first time he has prepared food on a large-scale for an intercultural event in Luxembourg.

He said that one day he hopes to open his own café in Luxembourg. “It has been good for me to help me meet people and for other people to get to know me,” he said.

The last week of the project will focus on serving Balkan food, showing the culture of people who have successfully integrated in Luxembourg.

The plan is to find a permanent place with a stage to host the initiative, Ludorf said.

In the meantime, she hopes to recruit restaurants to participate in a “repas solidaire” or solidarity meal whereby diners are invited to pay for two meals of the day, donating one to a future customer. These donated meals can then be used by partner social organisations to host a meal for the people they work with.

To find out more about all of these initiatives, visit www.alatabledumonde.lu