Koshary Corner brings a taste of Egypt to new student center

In the world of Egyptian street food, the koshary bowl is king. Egypt's national dish mixes pasta, rice, lentils, chickpeas, tomato sauce, and fried onions for a hearty, flavorful meal that leaves customers full and satisfied.

But despite its ubiquity in Egypt, very few restaurants serve koshary bowls in the U.S. This realization shocked Iman Moussa when she first immigrated to Maryland. How could it be possible that so many people had never tried her favorite dish?

"It's the best comfort food ever," Moussa says. "And it's not something common [in the U.S.] No one knows."

So Moussa launched Koshary Corner, an Egyptian food stall that recently opened its second location in the Bloomberg Student Center on Johns Hopkins University's Homewood campus. While the plant-forward restaurant is best known for its titular koshary bowls, it also serves shawarma wraps, falafel, and other Mediterranean staples.

"It just gives me so much pride and honor to be the person introducing people to this culture through food," she says. "We are honored and delighted to be partnering with an institution like Hopkins in this."

With food service now well underway at the Bloomberg Student Center, the Hub sat down with Moussa to discuss her business's origin, its sustainability goals, and some brand new menu options.

What inspired you to start Koshary Corner?

That's always my favorite question. Koshary Corner was my way of building or growing new roots in America when I moved here. When I came from Egypt, I did have the language, I did have the means, but I didn't have the community. I left my family, my friends, my culture, everything. When I came here, I'm a social person and everything, but I felt like I didn't know how to connect. I would go to the bus stop with my kids and the moms were chatting about things that I didn't understand. I didn't see all the shows, all of this stuff.

I remembered—I don't know if you've ever watched it, Desperate Housewives? Bree, the character from Desperate Housewives, she used to bake for the neighbors who moved into the community. And I was like, "Of course, it's always the food that makes the connection!" And this is what started it all. I just decided that I'm going to make something and go knock on my neighbors' doors. Thankfully that worked beautifully, and from there, the whole thing started and developed until it became Koshary Corner.

We launched a physical location in 2018 in Howard County, and then in 2023, we moved into Baltimore [at R. House], which was a dream come true because I always loved Baltimore so much. Baltimore reminds me of Cairo, the capital of Egypt. I always say it's a city with many problems, but so much potential.

Last time we spoke, you emphasized Koshary Corner's commitment to sustainability. What does that look like for your business?

I don't want to keep filling the landfill or the ocean with all of those plastic straws and plastic boxes and all of this stuff, so we, from the get go, decided we're going to use environmentally friendly packaging.

Of course, the biggest piece when we started [was that] we were 100% vegan. Starting this business, I got to learn a lot about industrial farming and, of course, the ugly truth behind it. I was hoping not to ever become part of that.

I always say Egyptians are not vegan, but my concept is. ... We stayed vegan up until 2025. In 2025, we decided we're going to be "plant forward," meaning our whole menu, as it is, stays vegan. We just added three animal protein options without taking anything from our older menu.

Hopkins Dining made a special effort to find local businesses to fill the student center's food hall. What does that mean to you?

I think it's an amazing idea. I think, for me personally, it just spoke to me so much because there are a lot of corporations that will say that they support businesses and support, more importantly, the community, but when it comes to action, you don't see much. You just see the verbiage on their marketing material and their branding and stuff, but you don't see the action behind it. So to me, this really solidified the idea that Hopkins is focused on being community-based. And I think that's a gift for the students.

Are there significant differences between your primary food stall at R. House and having a food stall on a college campus?

Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, to begin with, those are two very different markets. ... Those students are in the care of us now because they're away from home. They're studying. We have to think about how we're going to nourish them, how we're going to make the hard days feel easier. How can I provide a comfort food? Nothing is going to feel like home, but [how can I] at least make them feel like they're taken care of away from the family? It's a very different approach to Hopkins than R. House. Of course, a lot of the same products, but the delivery and the intention behind it is very, very different.

Aside from the koshary bowl, what other menu items can students expect?

This is such an exciting piece of it because Hopkins Dining said, "There you go. This is going to be your stall, but guess what? You get a deck oven! Maybe now, because you're doing Mediterranean flavors, maybe you should consider flatbreads."

Honestly, this challenge just sounded amazing. I was like, "Perfect!" I don't want to give them pizza. I want to give them something that has a little bit of bread in there, but we're going to give them wholesome ingredients. We're going to give them a lot of vegetables and a lot of homemade sauces that are made from real food. It's going to resemble something that they really love, but at the same time with a lot of flavor and a lot of nutrition in it.

We've been testing, testing, testing, and we're always a work in progress, but we're delighted at where we reached at this point now and just can't wait to share it with everyone. ... I don't know how am I going to face all my other customers [at R. House]. They're going to be like, "Excuse me, what are you talking about? How come you're not having flatbreads in this location?" I'm like, "Sorry, guys." Hopefully one day we'll be able to do it all, but for now, we're going to focus on the students.

As a restaurant owner, do you have any advice for students who want to explore the Baltimore food scene?

Expand your palette. There is so much to learn about the world just through food. I know the students are very busy. I know they're digging their heads in books and laptops all day long, but make time for those small conversations because you will walk away with feelings that will infuse so much energy into you. Have conversations about the food. Ask, "What is the food made out of?" Be curious about what you're eating, because it really matters. You will enjoy it double or triple if you know the story behind it.