The Beef Stops Here

I'm normally a chicken kinda girl. Or sushi. If sushi is involved, sushi is normally chosen. 

Having said that, I do enjoy a nice steak or burger but I'm quite picky about how it tastes.

But.

There's one place in Amman you're guaranteed to get amazing, tender meat. Brisket.

Brisket. Just typing their name makes my mouth water. It's a little unassuming place tucked away in Shmeisani, one we lived 10 minutes' walk away from without ever coming across it. Probably better for our arteries...

Brisket is run by a couple, both really nice, smiley and extremely helpful. The speciality is brisket, a type of smoked beef cut into thin slivers that you can gloriously dunk into their incredible brisket sauce. They also serve beef sliders, chicken wings, ribs and delicious sides (do not, I repeat, do not let the beans pass you by. They are divine.).

If you want to go and eat a nice slab of smoked brisket or the rack of ribs then you need to order them a day in advance. The first time we went there were 4 of us and I ordered 1.5 kgs of brisket and a full rack of ribs. And we devoured it all. Like, inhaled it. For me the brisket won over the ribs. It was juicy, it melt in our mouths, it was perfectly cooked. I'm running out of descriptive statements! We also had chicken wings to start, fries and mashed potatoes, which were yummy. I think the staff were surprised when we then turned around and ordered 7 sliders (mini-burgers) and ate those in seconds. They were incredible. And then after that we ordered a second round of chicken wings hehe.

We've been back since and we actually ordered 3kgs of brisket. I know, the environment is very angry at us! But I really can't speak highly enough of Brisket. I hope we'll be able to go back there soon.

Sx

Kitchen - Head Chef in the baseball cap.

Cool wall decorations.

Love those signs!

Chicken wings.

The Star of the Show.

How good does that look??

The ribs.

Sliders. Life changing.

Award worthy efforts.

First time for everything

There is a first time for everything. For us, it’s the first time we have a portable, open gas fire in our flat. Yes, it’s out there, in the open, spewing delicious fumes and threatening to consume unattended items of clothing. It may come surprising to some, but Amman gets really, really cold. We live in the constant fear highlighted by Game of Thrones, waiting for winter to finally come. In the past we’ve managed with electric heaters, wall mounted heating units and the most expensive of them all, diesel central heating. This year, we have to find something else. It is our third winter in Amman and we have succumbed to what many hail as the most efficient form of heating: the soba. It’s a metal box on wheels where you place your gas canister, hook it up to the pipe connected to the soba, light the spark and let the fire heat the metal grill. We used it last night and honestly, it was nice and warm. Not sure how comfortable I feel with this roaming risk but, we gotta keep warm!

Have a great weekend all!

Sx

When in the Levant, go to Levant!

One of my favourite restaurants in Amman is Levant, which serves a mix of Levantine and Armenian food with surprising twists here and there. I'm lucky to say that I've been there twice in the last few weeks (waist line not so lucky). I literally would be happy going there and ordering mezze after mezze and stuffing my face with bite size goodies.

Once you've sat down and ordered your food, the waiters hand you a little shot of green soup. The perfect start! I have no idea what's in this magical soup and I don't ask - it tastes incredible and I'm still alive so all good for me!

During our meal, we then moved on to more serious munches - rocket and fresh thyme salad, fried kubbeh, freekah with cream (like a Middle Eastern risotto), chicken balls (these were a pleasant surprise!), walnut and red pepper muhammarah (like a veggie pate) and yalanji, small stuffed aubergines. I have had their other starters such as the vine leaves and spicy potatoes and they are both yummy.

After stuffing our faces with mezze, we dug in to the beef shawerma. This is one of Levant's specialties, and deservedly so. The presentation is remarkable, as you are handed a meat skewer, chopped onions, mini pitas, pickles and tahini sauce - the perfect compliments to your individual shawerma sandwich. I'm not normally a fan of beef shawermas, but the meat at Levant is tender and full of flavour. One shawerma is usually enough for 4-5 people who've already eaten all those mezzes, so don't overestimate how many skewers you need to order! 

In a beautiful touch of symmetry, you are handed a little shot of citrussy goodness to help digest your meal. It's sweet and sour and refreshing all at once! 

If you have room for desert, I would recommend their creme brulee muhalabiya. Muhalabiya is akin to rice pudding without the rice, gently flavoured with rose water. The creme brulee topping on this version gives it that extra edge. Accompanied by a glass of mint tea, it's the perfect end to a perfect meal in my opinion! 

I think I need to avoid Levant for a while if I still want to fit in my clothes! 

Hope you're all having a great Tuesday! =]

Sx

Third time was indeed a charm!

I'd failed twice.

I persisted. And my third time paid off.

The Amman Citadel.

We started off with a delicious brunch at Jafra downtown. Jafra is normally a hit or miss for me and this time, it was a big hit. I might just have to go there again and do an exclusive post for it, because it's quirky, fun and the food is yum.

Needing a bit more energy than what the mezzes afforded us, we quickly nipped into Habibah for a slice of knafeh. This place has been around since the 50's, and they do the best knafeh, especially if you order in advance.  

Feeling fueled, we then wandered off to the Roman Ampitheatre. Now, I hadn't been back in to the ampitheatre in over a year, and hadn't climbed those steep steps in over 2 years. They look easy enough, but man are they hard to get up! Personally, I just kept my body low and focused on going up...without looking down! When you get to the top, you realise just how high you are!

We stayed up there for a bit, taking photos and nervously laughing about how to get down *side eye*

After climbing down safely, we had a quick look at the museum adjacent to the ampitheatre (like, really not very exciting).

And then. And then. We drove up to the Citadel.

It was open.

We bought our tickets.

We entered. We photographed. We conquered. 

There isn't much by way of ruins in the Citadel. But boy do you get many, many great views of Amman.

My favourite part of the Citadel was the Ummayad mosque, a beautiful, blue domed building that was recently restored. The dome is actually not the original dome, and although it's a small mosque and not extremely charming, it has a certain magnetism to it.

Once we had our fill of looking around the Citadel and Amman's spectacular views, we went into the museum, where artifacts from different ages were on display. 

And we ended the day in a truly Middle Eastern way - stuffing our faces with maqluba or, literally, upside down.

Happy tummy tummy, happy Saba!

Sx