Food
What to eat, where to find it, what it costs.
235 Food
Kibbeh Labaniyeh
Kibbeh dumplings dropped raw into yoghurt cooked with starch, finishing in the pot. Served hot, with plain white rice beside it and dried mint on top.
Variable — ask the price of a plate when you order · Damascus
Aleppo Kebab
Minced lamb worked with the city’s own spice mix, pressed onto flat skewers and cooked over charcoal, with sumac onion, parsley and charred tomato beside it.
Variable — ask the price per skewer when you order · Aleppo
Qamar al-Din
Apricot puree dried in the sun into pliable sheets, then soaked back into a drink. The Ramadan cordial that came out of the Ghouta orchards of Damascus.
Variable — ask the price by weight at the counter · Damascus
Bamia
The vegetable Homs is named for. Cooked in olive oil it is a cold mezze; cooked with meat it is a main course with rice, sharpened by pomegranate molasses.
Variable — ask the price of a plate when you order · Homs
Abu Shaker Fruit Cocktail
The same shop in Salhiyah since 1953, now in its third generation. The cocktail is built in layers: fruit puree, honey, fresh cream, crushed pistachio on top.
The layered cocktail — fruit puree, honey, cream, pistachio on top · Variable — depends on the glass; ask at the counter, cash only · Damascus
Anas Shawarma
It started with one shop in Midan in 1991 and has since spread beyond Syria. The original branch is still on Al-Jazmatiyah, open until two in the morning.
Pressed chicken shawarma — toum, pickles, chips · Variable — ask the sandwich price at the counter; cash only · Damascus
Olives and olive oil
The layer beneath the Syrian table. In bowls at breakfast, poured over the mezze, used for the cooking; Idlib and the Aleppo countryside are the groves.
Variable — ask the price per kilo and per tin at the counter · Idlib
Shaabiyat
Buttered layers of pastry folded into a triangle around cream, then doused in cold syrup straight from the oven. Idlib’s sweet, and Ariha’s above all.
Variable — ask the price per piece or per kilo at the counter · Idlib
Shish Taouk
Chicken cubed, left in yoghurt and lemon, then grilled on skewers over charcoal. Toum comes with it: garlic, salt, oil and lemon whipped into a white sauce.
Variable — a plate and a wrap are priced apart, ask when you order · Damascus
Shanklish
A cheese ball dried, left to ripen, then rolled in thyme or red pepper. Coastal winter stores: crushed with olive oil, tomato and onion, it becomes a mezze plate.
Variable — ask the price per plate or per kilo at the counter · Tartus
Namoura
A semolina batter baked flat in a tray and soaked in syrup while still hot. It is cut into diamonds before baking, with one almond pressed into each piece.
Variable — sold by weight, ask at the counter · Damascus
Osmalieh
Thick cream between two layers of shredded kadayif pastry, cut like a sandwich and finished with pistachio and syrup. Often mistaken for knafeh, but no cheese.
Variable — ask the price per slice or per kilo at the counter · Damascus