By: Lucy Li
Welcome to my blog post all about food. No, I don't think I've gone a single meal without taking a picture of the food first. I want to thank my teammates for supporting me throughout my incessant foodtography, and for understanding that a meal is off limits for the first 5 minutes after receiving it. For you readers, enjoy my tour of the cuisine we have encountered through Amman :)
This is one of the first times we went out to eat lunch, and found a local shawerma shop. You know it's local when the menu is only in Arabic. We assumed the first item listed was a popular, signature item. So we pointed at that to the cashier - and we were not disappointed!
Friends let me tell you that these "hole in the wall" shops throughout Amman sell THE best, $1 falafel sandwiches - would 15/10 recommend and it is definitely worth over a McDonald's meal we paid $5 for.
At a nice cafe called Dahab in Abdoun, we ordered a salmon salad. The presentation was a pleasant surprise, with the plating and salmon roses.
Murphy's Pub was as American as any restaurant you would find in the states. I'd say the sandwiches were tasty, but nothing too noteworthy; anyway, I'd rather spend my time here trying all of the local food.
Warm, soft, yummy waffles (fruit and Ferrero Rocher flavored) that were unfortunately drowning in a bit too much melted dark chocolate. Thank you though, Treats and Beans, for this aesthetic!
Gotta love local food! Hashems Restaurant delivered a hearty meal at rough 1.5 JD per person. Picture includes bread, falafel, and many dips that I still cannot name.
No matter where you go, food court food is pretty much universal - mediocre. Pictured is the mango smoothie and avocado smoothie. Those were delicious, and this whole meal was so cheap that I really have no complaints!
The biggest knafeh EVER and although I was stuffed from dinner that night I managed to finish a slice the size of my hand. Knafeh is a very delicious cheesy dessert found in Jordan with sprinkled pistachios.
Everyone here had been telling us to try mansaf, so we finally did. Mansaf is a simple lamb and rice dish that really is surprisingly good! I even ate a few bites with my hand, so I'm basically a local now.
Thank you Fakhreldin for this beautiful dessert!!! I don't even know what it is, but it was pleasing both to the eye and to the mouth! A valuable lesson we learned from this outing with Amman Academy faculty was to always eat 80% full during dinner, because there is always dessert.
I am ending this post with the most gorgeous spread I have ever captured on my iPhone. Shams El Balad was the most aesthetically pleasing brunch restaurant, with a menu full of reasonably priced and delicious food. Hands down one of my favorite meals and restaurants in Jordan.
Thank you for making it this far through a blog post solely on food! Now it's time for my shameless plug: follow @chifanwithlucy (username still in progress) on instagram to see more beauties like the ones above. I remember I used to say my favorite job would be a food taster. I would really appreciate you all supporting me in chasing my dreams! :)