It's a bittersweet day for Najat Younan.
The manager of downtown Vancouver's fights back tears on the diner's last day before permanently closing.
"It's too hard. This is three days I couldn't sleep. It's really hard because you're losing like a family," says Younan.
The family-run food fixture on Dunsmuir Street was around for 16 years. Over time it became a popular destination for homestyle Mediterranean and Lebanese cuisine.
Younan's family left Iraq in 1994 and, after relocating to Jordan and Lebanon, finally immigrated to Canada in 1999 with dreams of running a business.
Her husband, owner Adwar Malku, is approaching retirement and, also facing rising rent, the family reluctantly decided to leave the space for good.
As for what's next, Younan suggests she could try to sell her signature homemade hot sauce online but there are no major plans yet.
And she doesn't like to call her patrons customers but thinks of them as family.
"I don't call them customers; this is my own family and even some customers they call me auntie, mamma."
