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For an authentic Lebanese experience, the chefs, waiters, and staff of the Abdel Wahab restaurant have been brought over from Lebanon in coordination with the famous Abdel Wahab in Beirut. Located around the Le Meridien pool, the food is great, and the overall experience is charming, although it can be somewhat windy in the evenings.
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Al Huwwara is a very comfortable casual restaurant with a clientele ranging from business people to couples and families. The customary mezze available here is extensive and can serve as a meal in itself. In the summer the dining area is moved outside, which means that a nargileh (Arabic water pipe) can be ordered to round off a wonderfully garlicky meal. Reservations are necessary on Fridays and summer evenings.
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Asia is pure style. A sleek, chic and modern design effectively complements its innovative Thai cuisine. The restaurant also features a sharing concept, meaning that diners are presented with several smaller dishes between them from which they can make up their own different combinations several times throughout the meal. It is strongly recommended that you make a reservation for this popular spot.
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Featuring a wide selection of Thai/ Chinese cuisine (despite the Rangoon reference), this restaurant is one of the most atmospheric in Amman. Set in an overgrown bamboo shrine with water trickling down the stone walls, Beyond Rangoon works because it has been planned well enough not to let the atmosphere hijack your dining experience. The menu is varied and exotic and the helpings are absolutely huge.
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Oozing with style, this most recent addition to Arabic restaurants in Amman could easily be mistaken for a sophisticated French restaurant. Burj Al Hamam serves up the traditional Lebanese mezze and grills with all the frills that you might expect from one Amman’s top hotels. Extending onto The Terrace from May to September a reservation is highly recommended. energy of Asia. The desert offerings of banana fritters and green tea ice cream are a nice nod to more western tastes. Comfortable for the solo diner.
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With so many Americans in town just now, Cinco de Mayo’s Mexican credentials are seriously under scrutiny, and it’s passing with flying colours. It is, in fact, rare to find Mexican food of its quality and authenticity so far from home. Everything, from the tortilla chips, salsa and guacamole starters to the main course fajitas, is abundant and full of genuine Mexican flavour. The barbecued pork spare ribs are not quite so ‘down home’ but are very tasty.
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A balanced lighting scheme combined with its intricate décor gives E.V.O.O., the Sheraton Amman’s Italian outlet, an elegant and homely feel. The care that went into the design is also evident in the carefully picked menu that sports everything from the traditionally prepared lamb dishes to the extremely rare—for Jordan—swordfish. To top it all off, the service here is excellent with waiters speaking Arabic, English and some Italian.
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Inspired by the early 20th-century colonial spirit of French Indo-China, Indochine tries to capture the romance and sensuality of the era. Small palm trees, wicker furniture and wooden ceiling fans go a long way toward achieving this and the ambience is so discreet you feel you are dining alone. However the scent of ginger and lemon grass permeating this Asian fusion restaurant, combined with an open kitchen where you can watch the chefs preparing your meal, brings back the
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A dynamic and modern restaurant, Indu’s interior calms rather than excites, it is both grown up and composed, with black wood and pastels creating a classy contrast within the decor. The menu is diverse and presents Indian food with a European twist that is especially evident in the presentation of the various dishes. It is slightly more expensive than most Asian restaurants in Amman, but, once again, it comes with the Intercontinental seal of quality, and it is hard to go wrong with that.
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L’Incontro restaurant with its high ceilings and highly decorated walls is the choice of Amman’s business people, diplomats and royalty. Its quietly elegant setting contrasts with the very public and dramatic open kitchen. L’Incontro avoids the standards and offers new interpretations of Italian staples such as caramelle, a ravioli-type dish filled with lobster and polenta. Quail stew and polenta is another imaginative pairing that would have surprised the Italian peasants of old. Reservations essential.
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A family-run Italian restaurant bang in the middle of the posh Abdoun residential area. Its simple but good cuisine along with its reasonable prices account for its popularity in recent years, and make up for its rather bland decor. Helpful, well turned-out staff contributes to a friendly atmosphere, and the restaurant’s owner can often be found welcoming guests and checking that everything is satisfactory. One aspect that does differentiate this restaurant from others in Amman is its impressive selection of wines. Reservations a must.
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In a business that is undergoing constant change, with new restaurants opening up and forcing others out of the business, La Maison Verte has survived through a simple equation of good food and reasonable prices, although the novelty of being able to fry your own steak at your table certainly doesn’t hurt, and the entrecote here is the best that can be had in Amman. Reservations a must.
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[name]d after a village demolished by Louis XIV to build a restaurant where he could enjoy meals away from the oppressive protocol of Versailles, Le Trianon is Amman’s newest French restaurant. It pulls out all the stops from its plush decor to one of the most extensive wine lists in Amman. The menu runs from French standard such as snails
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Literally meaning ‘house of noodles’, Noodasia lives up to its [name] with an array of noodle-based Thai, Japanese and Asian dishes—with the added value of sushi. The restaurant’s interior is a very swish high-tech combination of dark woods, metal and plenty of glass. In addition to the impressive surroundings, this hangout’s strength remains its extremely affordable prices when compared to the superior quality of food on offer. Noodasia is not licensed but it has a great selection of fresh fruit juices.
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If you’ve ever been to Amman on business, then you’ve probably been to Romero, Amman’s longest running Italian restaurant—and with good cause. Established in 1979, it changed management once, in 1988, and has since maintained a consistently good level of quality and service. Although it has moved away from absolutely authentic Italian food, Romero can always be trusted to deliver, a fact that has made it the first choice for that all-important business lunch. Comfortable for the solo diner.
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No points for guessing where this pub gets its [name]. Riddled with Coronation Street memorabilia, Rover’s Return is Jordan’s only proper English pub. Predictably and justifiably popular with the expat set, it serves an exceptional fish’n’chips and, on some occasions, depending on availability, will even be able to provide you with a pint of hardto- get bitter. The policy is strictly no reservations, and this place is usually packed, so try to make it there before 9pm. Just don’t rely on being able to order a big helping of Betty’s hotpot.
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As with the rest of Le Royal Hotel, no expense has been spared in turning Samurai into the talking point of Amman society. Here it is done with a conveyor belt surrounding part of the bar area that carries ready-made plates of sushi as starters for customers to choose from. Other choices come with the excellently done tempura, teppenyaki and teriyaki selections and Samurai even manages to make the usually unsung elements of the Japanese menu, the miso soup and the fried rice, into a treat. Samurai is only open in the evenings.
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One of Amman’s top Lebanese restaurants, the service here is excellent with attentive and knowledgeable waiters. The famous Lebanese mezze, served with freshly baked Arabic bread has been honed to an art. Although it may seem unorthodox, European travellers should try kubeh niyeh (finely minced raw meat served with mint leaves and olive oil) at least once in their lifetime. A good arak compliments the meal although both foreign and local wines are available. Reservation recommended.
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Billed as an ‘alternative universal cultural café’ and using the idea of the synergy of cultures in the information age as its starting point, the Blue Fig is one of Amman’s most innovative architectural structures. This sleek café/restaurant/bar has a menu based around its ‘figzza’ version of pizza with gourmet toppings. Open all day (even for breakfast), the Blue Fig is one of young Amman’s favourite hangouts. Book in advance, especially in the summer.
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A mixture of old and new, antiques from Damascus and Beirut sit side-by-side with super-comfy couches and deep-cushioned seats at the Living Room. The owner’s own historic family photos line the walls while the waiters take your order on personal Palm Pilots connected to the restaurant’s wireless network to make for accurate and efficient service. Dishes like the rib rack and the crab-shrimp-avocado salad have turned into local conversational mainstays. Reservations recommended.
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Complete with frescos on the ceiling and a pianist tinkling away in the corner, this classy restaurant presents an efficiently served traditional Italian menu in an atmosphere of high ambience. There is little on the menu to distinguish Villa Toscana from the rest of the Italian restaurants around town, but what it does serve is set to very high standards, and leaves little room for complaint.
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The Vinaigrette jazz and salad bar delivers just what it promises. On the top floor of the Howard Johnson Hotel, its minimal design is completely overtaken by a huge floor-to-ceiling window that encircles the restaurant from three sides providing a panoramic view of both east and west Amman. The food is of a consistently high standard, and a variety of salads, crepes and sandwiches provide a light alternative to the heavier food served in many of Amman’s hotel-based restaurants. Don’t worry about dining alone, the view will keep you company.
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A welcome addition to the Italian restaurants of Amman, Vivace’s speciality is northern Italian cuisine. An extremely elegant setting complete with wooden panelled walls only adds to the warmth of the experience, and the hilltop location of the Four Seasons hotel means that when Vivace opens out onto the terrace in the summer, the view of Amman is unrivalled.
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