Food
What to eat, where to find it, what it costs.
235 Food
Barazek
Sesame on one face, pistachio on the other: a thin, brittle Damascus cookie made for tea. Sold by weight, and the usual thing to carry home in a sealed tin.
Variable — ask the price per kilo at the counter · Damascus
Awameh
Loose dough dropped into hot oil by the spoonful, then straight into cold syrup. This is what the queue on the pavement forms for in the hour after iftar.
Variable — ask the price of a bowl or a kilo at the stall · Damascus
Arayes
Spiced minced meat spread inside flatbread, then grilled over charcoal on both sides. The fat soaks into the bread while the outside turns crisp. Eat it hot.
Variable — ask how many wedges a portion is when you order · Aleppo
Al-Sadeeq Restaurant
In Damascus since 1906 and run by the fourth generation: the Arab world’s first shawarma restaurant, they say. Lamb over charcoal, grilled kibbeh beside it.
Charcoal-fired lamb shawarma; grilled kibbeh · Variable — ask; a service percentage can appear on the bill · Damascus
Al-Rawda Café
On Al-Abed Street since the late 1930s: the café of poets, journalists and chessboards. Its nickname, the little parliament, is earned — evenings still run full.
Samovar tea, Arabic coffee, nargileh — and the tables themselves · Cheap to moderate; priced for everyone · Damascus
The itinerant sherbet sellers of Old Damascus
A giant brass urn on the back, cups clinking in one hand: the sherbet sellers of the Hamidiyah–Buzuriyah line keep an Ottoman-era trade alive. Cash, standing up.
Liquorice sherbet (erk sous) and tamarind; carob in Ramadan · A small sum per cup — cash, small notes · Damascus
Al-Kamal Café
A people’s coffeehouse on Al-Mutanabbi Street with roots in the Mandate years. Its nickname is the paupers’ café: Damascus’s cheapest tea, and writers’ tables too.
Shay khamir (long-steeped tea), Arabic coffee, nargileh · Among the cheapest in Damascus; tea and coffee cost small change · Damascus
Diwan Al-Muhanna Sweets
In Damascus since 1935 by its own account: the multi-branch address for mabroumeh and halawet el-jibn. Malki and Mazzeh are the easiest doors for a visitor.
Pistachio mabroumeh and cream-filled halawet el-jibn · Variable — sold by weight; ask at the counter · Damascus
Makdous
Small aubergines stuffed with walnut, garlic and chilli, then kept under olive oil in a jar. Put up in autumn and eaten at the breakfast table all year.
Variable — by the jar or by weight, ask in the market · Damascus
Sayadieh
The fish dish of the coast: fish over rice cooked with long-browned onions, finished with fried pine nuts. The name comes from the word for fisherman.
Variable — ask whether the fish is by weight or by portion · Latakia
Batersh
The signature mezze of Hama: smoked aubergine mashed with yoghurt and tahini, topped with minced meat cooked in tomato, and crushed walnut. Eaten with bread.
Variable — ask the price of a mezze plate when you sit down · Hama
Shawarma
Marinated meat stacked on a vertical spit, turning in front of the fire. It goes into bread with garlic sauce and pickles, and it is eaten standing up.
Variable — ask the price of a wrap when you order · Damascus
