EAT & GREET
Antonia Paget is overwhelmed by Jordan’s full-on foodie hospitality and warm welcome
Jordanians are famed for their hospitality, and their trademark welcome is expressed through food – so I’m told over the din of clattering dishes as waiters place endless plates on the table in front of me.
The colourful, fragrant and mouthwatering dishes are a feast for the eyes as well as the stomach.
There is barely space, but every five minutes the plates are shuffled around to make room in an amusing game of table-top Tetris.
It is my first taste of the culinary treats on offer in Amman, Jordan’s capital.
Sitting in a Bedouin tent in the courtyard of Tawaheen El Hawa, one of the most popular traditional restaurants in the city, I eat my fill of Arabic salads, creamy hummus and kibbeh (small croquettes filled with onions, beef and spices). But no sooner have the plates been cleared away, another course arrives and we are encouraged to tuck into grilled meats and platters of Jordan’s national dish mansaf, made up of rice, a rich broth made of jameed – dry hard yoghurt – and lamb.
The end of the feast is signalled with a cup of coffee spiced with cardamom, poured from golden coffee pots warmed over coals.
Food is very important in Jordanian culture, and my local guide Ayyad tells me: “You can never say, ‘I can’t eat more’. There’s always a tiny space that can be filled. It is a sign of hospitality.”
But it is not hard to work up an appetite exploring the many sights of Amman. And I’d earned my lunch after a morning of walking around Amman’s Citadel, a mix of Roman, Greek, Byzantine and early Islamic ruins.
Impressive stone columns rise out of the dust, rivalled in their height only by one of the world’s tallest flagpoles, which flies the Jordanian colours near King Abdullah II and Queen Rania’s palace.
Perched on one of the many hills of Amman, the Citadel offers unparalleled views across the city, including the Roman amphitheatre in the valley below.
Originally built by the Greeks, it seats 6,000 people and is still used to this day
Dishes are a feast for the eyes as well as the tummy
My walking slows as my food baby grows
for a variety of weekly theatre, sporting and musical events.
A walk through downtown Amman and the nearby souq fills your nose with the smell of spices and fresh coffee – another pillar of Jordanian culture.
Fruit and vegetables are piled high on stalls next to shops selling carpets, embroidered robes and every household item you could think of.
Queues form outside the famous Habiba stall as Jordanians wait for their lunch of kunafa, a traditional dessert of goats cheese topped with flour and pistachios.
Downtown Amman is typical of a city whose ancient past rubs shoulders with fast modernisation, and the population has rapidly grown in the past halfcentury to more than four million, swelled in recent years by refugees fleeing neighbouring Syria and Iraq.
Jordan is home to the popular sights of Petra, one of the seven wonders of the world, the Dead Sea and the spectacular ancient ruins of Jerash.
Although mostly known for its desertscapes, including Wadi Rum of Lawrence of Arabia fame, Jordan is also home to numerous nature reserves.
But there is so much to see in amazing Amman alone, it warrants a trip of its own.
The iconic King Hussein mosque, one of 400 mosques and 42 churches in the city, is one of the highlights, as is the King Abdullah I mosque, made famous by its bright blue dome, which sits opposite a Coptic church.
Amman’s Rainbow Street embodies the unique blend of old and new in the city – art galleries, coffee shops and artisan stores nestle in white limestone courtyards brimming with herb gardens and flowers. I stop at Sufra restaurant, where the King and Queen visit for occasional Sunday lunches.
After admiring the bougainvilleacovered entrance, the table is once again piled high with food.
Musakhan, a dish of flatbread with chicken, almonds, olive oil and sumac cooked in a metal dish, is presented after copious meze dishes.
Despite my limp protests, dessert is brought out and, after enjoying deepfried sugared doughnuts, we are taught how to eat rose Turkish delight the Jordanian way – squashed between two biscuits.
If a three-course lunch is too much to handle, Rainbow Street is also home to Amman’s most famous falafel shop, Al Quds.
As my stay here goes on and my food baby grows (made worse by the excellent breakfasts at the W Amman Hotel) my ability to trek great distances round
the city wanes. So a visit the Jordan Museum and Darat al Funun, a gallery dedicated to local contemporary art, is a much-needed reduction in pace.
Another stop is called for at the National Gallery of Fine Arts, one of the most significant art museums in the Middle East and home to more than 2,800 paintings, sculptures, installations and photographs from more than 1,000 artists from 66 countries.
Whatever your taste or pace, Amman has plenty to offer for everyone. And if your taste includes it, back at the W Hotel which opened in April, there’s an open-air yoga class on the helipad.
Not brave enough to test my balance 492ft up, instead I take in the panoramic view.
‘‘Ahlan wa sahlan,’’ one of the hotel staff says as I look across the city – ‘‘welcome’’.
Even up here, the height of Jordanian hospitality is not forgotten.