Damascus Restaurant Tips by maykal

Restaurant Name: Shawarma stalls!


Favorite Dish: I practically survived on shawarmas(meat(chicken or lamb)with yoghurt and garlic sauce, pickled vegetables and sometimes chilli, wrapped in pitta bread, and, at the better stalls, fried in oil) for the first month. Unhealthy but addictive.

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Directions: The best shawarma stalls: The first one you come to in Bab Touma is excellent. There is also a good stall alongside the citadel.

On the road to Dummar (a suburb of Damascus to the NW) are several good restaurants and cafes next to the Barada River (it doesn't smell as bad as it does in the city centre!).


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Directions: Take the dummar service from under Jisr ar-Ra'ees and stop at any restaurant - they're all pretty much the same.

Everyone should visit a 'traditional' coffee-house. There are two cafes immediately behind the Omayyad Mosque which are popular with tourists and locals, as well as foreigner-seeking mukhabarat(secret police). A few lanes away is Bayt Jabri, a beautiful old building which doesn't look much from the outside. It has been turned into a cafe, and also serves some good food.

Favorite Dish: Tea is the Syrians favourite drink, served black with loads of sugar - if I asked my landlady not to put too much sugar in my tea, she would half fill the cup with sugar before pouring the tea, which was boiled with sugar! Coffee is also served black, and is similar to Turkish coffee - let it settle, otherwise you'll end up with a moutful of silt! Some cafes have Zahraa', which is some sort of herbal tea, as well as fruit juices. The strange pipe which gurgles is known in Syria as a 'Nargileh' (called chicha or hookah in other parts of the Middle East, and Hubble Bubble pipe by tourists). This is a very mild tobacco flavoured with fruit (apple and strawberry are the most common) or honey, and is supposedly not addictive. I don't smoke cigarettes, and can't stand cigarette smoke, but nargileh is actually quite nice!

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The Arabesque restaurant in the Christian quarter of the old city,is a change from the normal Syrian restaurants.
They have a rooftop terrace with a unique view of the old city and Mount Qassioun which is best at night, as well as dining rooms on 3 levels.

Favorite Dish: Thay have pasta dishes, some Moroccan food and other dishes - a break from hummus and kebabs.

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Directions: In the Christian Quarter of the old city, on the road next to the large Greek Orthodox church off 'Straight Street'