Omar Shah, owner of Maginhawa Group, already runs Bintang, Guanabana, and Mamasons Dirty Ice Cream in Kentish Town Road.
But starting this month he will expand and open four new businesses all in walking distance of one another.
Good Wood, due to open on February 28, will lean into the Caribbean specialities offered at Guanabana such as jerk chicken and Jamaican patties while Mamasons Café will offer sandwiches and coffee when it opens at the end of March.
High-end Belly, at the bottom of Kentish Town’s high street, will open in March, and Mamasons Bakery Factory, in Hawley Road, in late spring.
Omar, the son of a Muslim Bangladeshi father and Catholic Filipino mother, has four other businesses in Soho, Chinatown, Carnaby Street and Westfield Shepherd’s Bush.
Bintang was opened by his parents Shaduk and Rebecca in 1987 when he was six years old.
By the time he was eight he was helping out in the kitchen and by ten taking front of house orders.
“I was used as child labour by my parents but I am fully grateful of the experience,” he said.
His 12-year-old daughter Sienna has been doing taste tests with him over half term but she is “more interested in her tablet”.
Raised in Church Street, St John’s Wood, Omar went to university then into finance “doing my own thing” before taking over Bintang from his parents, who retired eight years ago. His mother died during Covid.
“This was always the no go area and cheaper end of Kentish Town and landlords would have empty spaces for years,” he added.
“Because I’ve been in the neighbourhood a long time there was a level of respect.”
Omar opened Guanabana in 2008 and Mamasons Dirty Ice Cream four years later.
The latter won the best sweet treats accolade at the Golden Chopsticks Awards in 2019 and 2021.
Belly, so called for his own love of creating good food, moves into the space formally occupied by his Ramo Ramen noodle house and will offer an “exceptional wine list” as well as “simple elevated dishes”.
Mamasons Café will be an extension of the ice-cream parlour but offering sandwiches, using the firm’s Filipino bread which will be baked wholesale in the new bakery.
Omar keeps a hand in the kitchen but now with 11 restaurants to manage he’s “passed on the gauntlets” to his head chefs.
“This area has allowed me to try out new concepts and take more risks without the nosebleeds of central London.
“My life is in this part of Kentish Town. I live on the street, sometimes I don’t leave it for days so if I do go to Soho I’ll need a new passport.”
