There are groups of people enjoying themselves with bottles of wine they brought from home to accompany some Syrian food on a cold December night in Edinburgh.
But toiling away behind the scenes to perfect her range of Syrian dishes in the kitchen of the trendy and colourful Coffee Saints cafe in Edinburgh City Centre is an inspirational couple with an unimaginable story.
The event in question was a Syrian Supper Club which has been running in Edinburgh for four years thanks to the non-profit organisation Cyrenians who are a charity that fights homelessness in the city.
Many people gather at the event just round the corner from Edinburgh's New Town to sample some Syrian delicacies that have been cooked by the dynamic husband and wife duo who have made quite the journey to get to Scotland.
Eight years ago, mum-of-four Noura Selibi, 32, had to leave her home in Palmyra, Syria, as the Civil War in the country made it too dangerous, and she is yet to return.
"We thought the war would be like two or three months," said Noura after she put the finishing touches on the Syrian delicacies.
"Now more than ten years on, it is still going."
Since its beginning in March 2011, the Syrian Civil War has gripped not just the country but the world as foreign powers have leapt to support either those opposing the Syrian government led by president Bashar al-Assad, or those who fight to keep him in.
In over a decade, hundreds of thousands of refugees from Syria have had to escape the country for countries across the world.
Noura and her husband Qays Selibi were two of those people who had to get out and so they fled to Turkey.
As a qualified Arabic teacher, Noura had been teaching at a primary school in her homeland and when she found herself in Turkey she was lucky enough to be able to teach Arabic at a school there as well.
"I still have some aunties and uncles in Syria," Noura told the Mirror.
"I have my kids, my in-laws and my husband with me in Scotland now but my own family went to Qatar as my brother was there."
After living in Turkey for three years the pair decided to move to Scotland to be closer to Qays' brother who had been living in the country as a university teacher for some years.
When the family arrived in this country under the UK Resettlement Scheme, which sought to re-settle refugees fleeing the Syrian civil war into the UK, they were paired up with a case worker from the council's team.
"She is actually here tonight," Noura said while pointing to her former case worker, Lizzy Treacy, in the Coffee Saints Cafe.
"When we arrived I told them I want to work but I cannot work in schools as I do not have such fluent English.
"But when our case worker used to visit us I would always make food for her and she asked me if I wanted to work with food. I had never thought about this before but I thought, why not?"
Noura's grandparents were her inspiration with cooking as her grandfather was a chef and ran a restaurant in Palmyra.
"I learned a lot from my family. When I was little I could not believe how they could be cooking or boiling so many dishes for so many different people," explained Noura.
However, seeing her family do it in her childhood inspired her to pick up the mantle.
From there, the aim was to get Noura to pass a food hygiene course so she would legally be able to work with food but given her lack of fluency in English Lizzy had to think outside the box.
Lizzy said: "Cyrenians were really looking to run a Supper Club with and I knew they do a food hygiene course. So we managed to organise this in Arabic and Noura passed it."
On Noura's new life cooking for the Syrian Supper Clubs, Lizzy looks on like a proud best friend.
"They were the first family I had when I started the job," said Lizzy.
"She is such an inspirational woman."
At this most recent Syrian Supper Club the menu contained a number of Middle Eastern delicacies which were cooked by the dynamic husband and wife duo.
For the vegetarians, the favourites were the Baba Ganoush and flatbread which is a delicacy in that part of the world.
The richness of the Baba Ganoush was incredible and with some flatbread this was quite the treat to start.
Alongside this there was also a pot of vegetable soup which was great way to be warmed up in this cold weather.
Then for main courses meat-eaters were treated to the traditional Maqluba which is a popular delicacy in the Middle East and consists of rice, vegetables and different meat as well.
While vegetarians could sample traditional Kubba which is another Middle Eastern delicacy.
Much like an Italian Arancini ball, the Kubba is effectively a rice ball filled with delicious vegetables and various spices which were a great accompaniment to the meal.
Looking forward, Noura is not sure what the future brings and was hopeful of being able to return to her homeland someday but seems to be enjoying her new fondness for cooking.
"I hope to open a smaller restaurant for me and my husband maybe," said Noura.
"Maybe in ten years I can maybe get back to Syria but it is too difficult now."
Now, the Syrian Supper Clubs are a regular feature of the Cyrenians calendar and Noura will be busy preparing for the next one which is on January 26 at the Coffee Saints Cafe in Edinburgh. Tickets cost £35 for as much of the food as you can eat.
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