Two babs with Babylon
Two babs with
Babylon, the famous city-state in the ancient Middle East that was located in what is now known as Iraq. Known for, among other things, the myth of the Tower of Babel and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon: one of the seven wonders of the world. For the pilgrims up here north of the Middle East, Babylon has completely different connotations, namely Babylon Pizza.
Journalist: Henrik Bakken
Photographer: Ingunn Reimers
Translator: Rebekka Berg
Web-distributor: Martha Ingeborg Evensen
Tuntreet is welcomed by Jonni Yosef Yokhanna, the boss himself, in Babylon Pizza’s premises in the center of Ås. In the same premises where they started on 15 April 2009. Almost 15 years have passed and many have fought their way through exam periods with the help of this place. Multiple cohorts of students have developed a relationship with Babylon through pizza and kebabs at the restaurant’s location in the heart of Ås.
Jonni looks back on the years as both tough and good. It seems as if they have had enough activity throughout - he thinks it was as if they opened yesterday. He describes the time as a success and comes across as a focused man who knows both his products and his customers well - the interview is constantly interrupted by people popping in for a short chat or people passing by who wave and say hello.
Jonni says that there are many students who have been “more than customers”. Over the years, he has had several student customers whom he is still in contact with through Facebook today. He is proud when he sees that some of the people he once served food to as students are today engineers and managers of large projects. He appreciates the students, not only do they create activity in the restaurant, but the students also create a lot of life. This is also reflected in the turnover during the summer holidays when almost all the students are at home on holiday. However, the effect is the opposite when student associations have events and they receive large orders.
Jonni points to the large roll of kebab meat hanging on a skewer on the kebab grill, they build the rolls themselves. He says that a roll weighs between 70 and 80 kilos and that on a busy day they can sell a whole roll. On a daily basis, Fridays and Sundays compete to be the most hectic day of the week, Jonni describes Friday as a “vorspiel” for many, and then comes Sunday and then they come back for “nach”.
At Babylon, they are constantly concerned with development and renewal, they have, among other things, expanded to both Vestby and Drøbak, and last year they carried out a proper refurbishment of the restaurant. During the pandemic, they felt compelled to start rolling out, and unlike many others in the service industry, they broke their record. In addition, they are constantly developing and changing the menu. Compared to 2009, it is completely different, he says, only a couple of individual items have remained since the start.
For Jonni, one thing is certain: “Had it not been for the students, this would have been a dead city”. The spear on the kebab grill, now spinning in its fourteenth year, continues to spin into the future. The exam season is approaching and for many there is an exponential growth in the desire for a simple dinner, a desire that often increases in line with the exam nerves.
Tuntreet thanks hosts for their time, and concludes that if Babylon’s hanging gardens were one of the seven wonders of the world, you must at least be able to call Babylon Pizza one of the seven wonders of Ås.
