Middle Eastern fast food chain Ali Baba's is best known for its cheap shawarma, but one of the chain's former Toronto locations has broken away from its parent company and is now setting itself apart with a new name and menu.

The former Ali Baba's location at 729 Bloor Street West is now officially known as Al Babinos. As the name implies, Italian food is prominently featured on the menu, along with old favourites like shawarma.

Mahamud Hussein, chef and owner at Al Babinos, told blogTO, "We decided to change the name to Al Babinos and Pasta Smart. Al Babinos does shawarma and Pasta Smart does pasta."

Hussein says he decided to switch up the name and menu due to a lack of similar offerings in the neighbourhood, initially calling the hybrid restaurant Ali Baba's and Pasta Smart before switching to the current name earlier this year.

In doing so, the restaurant has its severed ties with the Ali Baba's name and is now totally doing their own thing, with Hussein calling it "a completely different business"

@blogto We solved the Toronto Al Babino's mystery in case anyone else was confused.🕵️📍 Al Babino's/Pasta Smart - 729 Bloor Street W #tiktoktoronto #torontotiktok #toronto #torontoontario #torontocanada #torontopasta #torontorestaurants #torontorestaurant #torontoshawarma #torontofood #torontoeats #torontofoodie - 📹/🎙️ @betabriii ⭐️ @dinkbalshin ♬ original sound - blogTO

"We see Bloor West there is no restaurant that has this kind of food," says Hussein — the kind of food in question being an eclectic bordering on endless menu that includes Middle Eastern and Italian fare, along with completely random offerings like chopped cheese and fish fry.

Al Babinos can trace its hilarious name to comedian and content creator Jacob Balshin, who suggested that the combined Ali Baba's and Pasta Smart location should rebrand to an Italian-inspired variant of the chain's name.

Balshin tells blogTO that he had no interaction with the restaurant before making his video, and his influence on the most hilarious restaurant rebrand in recent Toronto memory is only serving to convince him further that we are all just living in a simulation right now.