Restaurants
Restaurants are also classified according to the quality of the establishment, and to a lesser scale, the cooking, as on this point the difference is not always striking between high class restaurants and small taverns where the chef is talented. In restaurants of higher category, whether or not attached to a hotel, it is well indicated to give 10 % for the service. Tipping is expected, and is a question of personal appreciation (10-15%). Almost all people have a more or less pronounced taste for rich and sweet foods. Some resist this temptation, others not. Arabs belong by large to the latter group and Syrians are no exception, but do not like to mix the rich and the sweet, except in pastries.
Syrhave, like their Jordanian neighbors, a tendency to seek desert scents, and it is often a pleasure to taste dishes perfumed with saffron, cumin and other perfumed herbs which are one of the delights of the cuisine of this country. You will enjoy in particular the Mezzes, an assortment that may be endless of small hors d’oeuvres served without much cooking complications, or that may be carefully cooked and perfumed . Fish, game, vegetable and meat contribute to the Mezze of a rich table. The Syrians are extremely fond of hommos: chickpeas finely ground, to which is added tehineh (sesame oil mixture) with garlic, lemon juice and covered with oil and parsley. Tabbouleh is also popular: it is a kind of salad made with burghul (boiled, then dried and coarsely ground wheat), finely chopped parsley, onions and tomatoes, with olive oil and lemon juice. The Mezze also includes eggplant crush, cucumber salad with yogurt, white cheese puff-paste, rissoles with meat, etc… As you have not had the chance to live in Syria at the time of the extravagant Caliph El-Hakim (996-1021), you may have a desire to taste Mloukhieh. This delicious dish prepared for Abou-Bakr, The first successor of prophet Muhammad , and for Moawiya , the founder of the Omayyad dynasty. It was forbidden by El-Hakim . This sovereign, who from the age of 15 spent his time in promoting killings, when he did not require the extermination of dogs to stop their barking and forbade the manufacture of ladies shoes, an amusing but good way of keeping woman at home, had the bad taste to forbid the cooking of the Mloukhieh, a dish with a herb called the mallow, under the pretext that it had been four centuries earlier one of the favorite dishes of Abou-Bakr. This costly caliph’s mallow is now served in season (end spring-early summer ), accompanied with chicken cocked to a complicated recipe, or with mutton shin . Other dishes, undoubtedly less rare, but with a less perplexing taste, will be proposed to you, such as the Kebbeh, prepared with burghul, meat and various spices. It may be eaten raw, grilled, fried, as well as grilled on skewers or boiled (this latter method is less tasty ). It is a national dish. Chicken and mutton are very frequently eaten. Mutton grilled on skewers (shish-Kabab) can be very delicious. Beef is served also. It is not recommended to eat meat rare. Kafta is mutton very finely ground, mixed with herbs and chopped onions, and grilled on skewers or fried. Shawarma is a delicious dish, a roast of thin mutton layers piled on a vertical broach alternated with fat and cooked in front of a charcoal fire. The cook will cut the outer cooked layer gradually on demand and thus will expose the lower uncooked layers, which will cook in turn. It is eaten with small onions and sometimes piled into a piece of Arabic bread. Arab pastries from the best pastry-shops of Damascus and Aleppo are pure marvels, such as the Baklawa (puff-pastry stuffed with pistachios or almonds with syrup perfumed with rise and or orange blossom), Katayefs with cream and syrup or dried fruits (walnuts, pistachios, almonds), the Karabij of Aleppo with honey, rose water and almonds, for stuffing a dough concocted by emulsifying soapwort root and syrup, the Ghoraybeh, small pancakes with ghee and pistachios, the Muhallabieh, a kind of pudding with sugar and rice powder, perfumed with orange blossom. A special mention should be made of the apricots of the Ghouta orchards (Damascus) which make delicious jams. Syrians are not big consumers of alcoholic drinks, since Islam prohibits drinking. You may however taste local Chalhoub wines or enjoy a mezze with arak Al Rayan, an excellent aniseed flavored alcoholic drink distilled from grapes. Otherwise all drinks are available. You will also find brands of minerals water (Boukein or Dreikiche, for example) and carbonated waters. Tea is offered at all times of the day, as well as Turkish coffee, made by decoction and not by infusion, with sugar to taste. When in Palmyra, try Bedouin coffee, very concentrated and decanted without sugar, served in small quantities, flavored with cardamom seeds.