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ԲենիամինBeniamin Request a table

Armenian tavern

Blood doesn't turninto water.

Linocut print: a long laid table seen from behind the empty head chair. A leaf lies on its plate; relatives pass dishes; a tonir glows at the far end.

A tavern by Beniamin's great-grandchildren, in Kentron, Yerevan.

Ask for a table in the opening month Add your family’s leaf

The story

Who is Beniamin?

Beniamin Sargsyan of Chambarak was born in 1901. He was our great-grandfather.

In 2022, at the memorial meal for his daughter, about forty of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren sat at one table. Most of us were meeting for the first time.

Eleven of his great-grandchildren didn’t stop talking afterwards. We became best friends.

In our family we still set his place at the head of the table. Now, four years on, we are opening a tavern in Kentron with his name over the door.

Linocut print: a long table seen from directly above, relatives seated all round it, bread and jugs on the cloth. — 2022: the table of forty, from above.

Linocut print: the empty chair at the head of a long table, a plate with a leaf set before it. — His place, as our family still sets it.

Linocut print: a small town of low tin-roofed houses among green, wooded hills. — Chambarak, Beniamin’s town.

The Gerdastan Table

One long table for the whole family

Գերդաստան, gerdastan: the great household, every branch of it at one table.

12 to 40 guests, one menu, one price per head, known before you sit down.

At the head, a place set for whoever brought your family together: tell us the name when you ask, or leave it for the eldest.
The house question, «Որտեղացի՞ եք»: which village are you from? We ask every table and write the answer on its card.
The house toast, on a card. Your table chooses who reads it.

What’s on the table: the kitchen we are planning

khorovats: pork, chicken, lamb
lavash from the tonir
lahmajo
salads
house wine

No prices yet: we price the dishes once our own kitchen cooks them.

Ask for a Gerdastan Table

Linocut print from above: hands of all ages tear lavash and pass skewers and salads along a long wooden table; a leaf lies in the middle.

The Wall

One leaf for every family

One wall of the tavern holds small wooden leaves. Each carries a surname, a village and a year.

A family earns its leaf at one table: three generations, or eight relatives or more. Your family takes a twin leaf home.

Read the wall: your village may sit under another surname. Then ask the question that started it all: are we related?

Linocut print: a wall of carved wooden leaves with no writing on them; a hand hangs a new one.

The Wall, as it stands today

1 leaf on the wall — ours. Yours can be the second.

ՍարգսյանՃամբարակ · 2022Sargsyan · Chambarak
the first leaf: ours
Your leaf

Add your family’s leaf

Not a booking, no payment. The wooden leaf goes up when your family sits at our table.

Ways to gather

Four ways to gather

Cousins’ Sunday

Come as cousins. Leave as friends.

Sundays, 13:00–17:00. Long tables only, one price per head, and a children’s end of the table.

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Linocut print from above: tables pushed together on a sunny afternoon, long window shadows, children at one end.

The Khnami Table

Two sets of strangers, one table: that is how our own story began.

For the evening two families meet for the first time: an engagement, a khosk-kap. A set menu for 20 to 35.

Ask for this table

Linocut print: two families on two sides of one table; a plate of lavash passed across and a handshake over the middle.

Three Generations

Grandparent, parent and child at one table: one dessert per table for the grandparent, on us, and your family’s leaf goes on the Wall.

Ask for this table

Linocut print from above: a grandparent’s, a parent’s and a child’s hands stacked on a wooden table, beside a dessert and a leaf.

The Gerdastan Box

The table in a box, delivered by us once our kitchen opens: khorovats for 4 to 6, lavash, salads, the toast card. Area, price and timing come then.

Ask about the Box

Linocut print from above: an open plain box with lavash, wrapped grill, salads and a blank card; hands reaching in.

Linocut print from above: eleven hands, six on one side of a wooden table and five on the other, each holding a glass; a leaf in the middle.

Who we are

Eleven great-grandchildren of one man

Vahe
Heghine
Tigran
Armen
Tatev
Hayk
Anul
Amul
Marish
Sona
Edita

The opening month

Bring the cousins you never see.

A request, not a booking: nothing is booked until the doors open. When the date is set, we contact you the way you choose to confirm the table.

A question before we open? Choose “Just a question” and write it in the note.

Request a table Add a leaf