Food blogger Rama Abu Hammour, a.k.a. @Taste.Amman, explains that in Jordan, Friday meals are also a family food affair.
“It’s like, if we go out with our friends, our mum tells us we have to go back home to see the family,” she says with a laugh - and as if to spell out her point, she's currently in a restaurant that's crowded with hungry clans. Her sister Rand (a diehard fan of MasterChef Australia) is next to her, and they're having breakfast during an unseasonably warm November morning in downtown Amman. They know Amman’s best restaurants and, together, they're going to introduce us to Jordan's top traditional foods.
Falafel at Hashem, Amman. Source: Amelia Barry
Brunch
The girls have expertly nabbed a table amongst the Friday crowds at Hashem - one of the city’s most celebrated restaurants. Hashem is famous amongst Jordanians and internationals alike. It serves up the best vegetarian breakfast this side of anywhere. The avocado toast is out. Hummus (which apparently goes with everything) and baba ganoush are in.
Waiters rush around, their trays piled high, and families duck and weave for spaces; babies sit on tables nibbling falafel and families that haven’t seen each other all week catch up.
The falafel at Hashem is so light and delectable it will make you swear off its stodgy Australian cousin for the rest of your life. Accompanying it is fuul (a mix of broad beans, chickpeas, olive oil and lemon juice), fatteh hummus and fresh khubz (flatbread). This is traditional Jordanian breakfast at its best.
“The olive oil is good for you,” Rama says to encourage us (not that we need it) - everyone is eating with gusto.
At the point where our waistbands start to strain, Rama reminds us there are three more delicious stops to go.
Food blogger Rama Abu Hammour and her sister Rand. Source: Amelia Barry
Sweets
While the famous bakery has desserts familiar to us in Australia (such as baklava and halva), what we’re here for is knafeh.
Knafeh is very salty, as well as sweet. The crunchy pistachio and candied coconut works surprisingly well with the firm cheese that makes up the bottom layer.
“So this is it,” says Rama, as the baker serves a generous portion of golden-brown, flaky pastry. “Knafeh is a means of celebration whenever there’s a wedding party or celebration."
Rand, Rama’s sister, recently got engaged, and had knafeh to celebrate the upcoming nuptials.
Rama dissects the knafeh for us.
“It is basically made out of cheese which is the bottom layer,” she says. Next to her is a pot of boiling sugar, which is later used to soak the knafeh. The top is made out of knafeh dough and garnished with nuts, which gives it an extra colour (and flavour) boost.
Mansaf is a popular dish in Jordan. Source: Amelia Barry
Lunch
You can smell mansaf before you see it - a sour but delicious fragrance is in the air as the taxi stops on the side of the road at a non-descript roadside restaurant.
A traditional Bedouin dish that consists of goat yogurt sauce, lamb and rice, it is the most beloved of all Jordanian staples. The goat's milk is dried into rocks called jameed. It’s then reboiled to create the yogurt that makes mansaf famously good, and is cooked with meats and accompanied by rice.
Traditionally, it is eaten differently by men and women. The men use their hands and the women use spoons.
Rama explains that mansaf is a real "bro-ing out" dish. Think the Jordanian version of Australian guys hanging out next to the barbecue.
The traditional way to eat is a ‘grab and roll’: grab the rice in your right hand, roll it into a ball, dip it into the yogurt sauce, nurse your sore burnt hand. Repeat when mansaf cools.
This is not the neatest of dishes to eat, but definitely one of the funnest.
Shawarma being prepped in Amman. Source: Amelia Barry
Late-night snacks
“It’s basically street food,” Rama says about our next stop, where we're served traditional Jordanian sandwiches made with a flatbread called saj. "You can stuff it with whatever you want!”
We stop at Sajweesheh, a roadside sandwich bar. It’s next to an internet cafe and all is quiet. It's currently time for Friday prayers and the pop music has been temporarily swapped for a sermon praying for rain.
Rama orders two types of saj. There’s shawarma saj - chicken that is roasted on a spit like greek gyros, and accompanied with pickles. Shawarma is a Jordanian staple which, like the Turkish doner kebab, consists of meat roasted on a rotating spit. She also orders labneh saj with a smoked cold cut. At this point, there is no way anyone can eat anything else, and the group sits back contemplating its achievements.
Then the kind waiter brings out some nutella saj.
Naturally, it is eaten.
