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As soon as I reached Sufra, my taste buds started tingling and my mouth started watering as I remembered the foukhara, the hummus and the fresh hot bread.. I've been here before in 2012 and the experience was great...
The ambiance is always festive inside this old house. Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves... The restaurant is divided into many sections where wooden tables, old tiles cover the floors, stones decorate the walls and a chandeliers adds just the right amount of light.
Mealtime in Jordan is a time of celebration. Celebrating taste savored thousands of years. With Levantine influences and a heavy inspiration from the Bedouin "kitchen", Jordan enjoys one of the worlds most sophisticated and elaborate cuisines.
The rich Jordanian food, coupled with the famous Jordanian hospitality creates an atmosphere of festivities each time a meal is served. Sufra, combines the taste of Jordanian food, and the atmosphere that captures the spirit of the Jordanian mealtime with the hospitality of its people.
We were shown to our table on the balcony with an overview of the terrace down below. Then food started landing on our long table. A piece of bread in hand I started with the hummus which I found delicious, the eggplant batenjen was full of taste and enjoyably lemony, the falafel was light and crunchy and many other things.
The menu is very wide divided into:
- Soup
- Dish of the day
- Hot mezza
- Seasonal greens (fresh pickings from the countryside typically enjoyed with flat bread and olive oil)
- Mezza with olive oil
- Saj
- Fatte (traditional casserole with flatbread crumbs and a mix of the freshest ingredients)
- Fukharat (clay pots baked slowly to perfection)
Original circular pieces of tasty bites, the Soujok were juicy and spicy. The loubiye bel zeit reminded me of my grandmother.
Things were going too fast as I enjoyed the food... I didn't have time to tell you more about the place. I loved the details this place hold. The plates come in different colors, I liked the real wood tables, the old style chairs, the bread baskets filled every five minutes, the speed of service and the burgundy placemats. Some orders are served in large serving plates others in foukhara.
And now the hot plates started coming. They have a special way of cooking the eggplant fatteh with red sauce, a little yoghurt and lots of spices. It's so good and so amazingly seasoned. To make it even better I would have served it with crunchy fried bread.
Lots of food, tasty food but don't forget to try their green olives. Open the jar and dip into them; these are really good.
Now lets move to the more serious stuff. Sajiyet djej and Kafta bel tahina. I started with the chicken in a saj-like casserole, frying in its oil over a flaming pot. What an amazing innovation. Tender chicken, full of taste mixed with grilled onions and crunchy almonds, this was truly a piece of heaven. As for the Kafta in tahina, it's a glazed pot filled with a thick layer of Kafta meat topped with slices of potatoes and floating in tahina sauce. This dish should be imported to Lebanon. The juiciness of the Kafta, the tenderness of the potatoes and the creaminess of the tahina. Bravo is the least I can say.
Just asked about the alcohol issue. The law in Jordan states that if the owner is Christian, he can serve alcohol. At Sufra, the mosque is less than 500meters away, so he is not allowed to propose the beverage.
For dessert we received mouhallabiya and a bowl of ouwaymat and asabe3 Zeinab (ma3kroun). The mouhallabiya was fine, covered with sugar syrup. It was a little bit too condensed. As for the ma3kroun, they boast a special flavor, served hot, crunchy on the outside with a strong sweet aftertaste. Not bad at all; I'll try to heat the ones we have in Lebanon and see how it will turn out...
I can't recall anything negative, I like this restaurant. The freshness, the ambiance, the well-decorated space, nice music, nice view, nice people, professional waiters... I really enjoyed it and will surely come back again.
