Damascus is such a rich and fascinating city, that it is admittedly difficult to focus on the food aspect alone. So pardon me while I digress for a moment.
Our recent visit to Damascus was my first time back to Syria in many many years, and my first time ever exploring the old city. Ten years ago, my mother reminds me, no tourist would dream of staying inside the old city walls and there weren’t even many reputable places to stay for that matter.
Well, in the past ten years the old city has been slowly but surely gentrified to suit the city’s booming tourism industry, and so, foreign investment has made over many of the oldest courtyard homes into B&B style accommodations to house tourists from around the region and the world. Our family stayed in Beit Ramza, a charming example of a courtyard home given new life in the name of tourism. In all honesty it was beautiful and it was a truly lovely experience to stay there. But during our time there, I couldn’t help but think of how fast things are changing in the eyes of Damascene residents.
Today, it feels like ordinary people still live, work and play in the old city as always. But I wonder how long this will last, and how long it will be before residents are priced out of their own neighborhood. In five, maybe ten years, it will be a very different place I suppose, and one that I hope won’t resemble the model of the white-washed and Europeanized Moroccan medina of Asilah, but rather remain closer to the friendly yet locally-invested Fez medina. I guess only time will tell.
Onto the eating!
EAT STANDING UP: MIDAN STREET NIGHT MARKET
During our first night in Damascus, my parents informed me & Jia Ching that at 10pm they would be heading over to Midan Street to indulge in the night market and we were welcome to join if we liked. We were exhausted after a long day of traveling by cab from Beirut over the Syrian border, but we fell into temptation at the promise of the night market’s one-of-a-kind display of sweets.
We hailed a taxi at Bab Touma and in less than ten minutes we were walking along the brightly lit sidewalks of Midan. Glass storefronts and street stalls boasted intricately constructed towers of baklawa and sugary concoctions, each involving some combination of phyllo dough, pistachio, walnut and syrup. We weren’t sure where to begin until the glow of a Palestinian shop caught our attention.
The generosity of the owners took us by surprise as they assembled bite-sized desserts one by one and handed them to each of us. Small pancakes filled with clotted cream and topped with pistachios made us ooooooh, as bites of the crunchy cream-filled fried vermicelli and pistachio crusted pie made us ahhhhh. When we tried to offer a few Syrian pounds as compensation we were met with a new flurry of sweet offerings. We could have stayed all night, but at some point we had to cut ourselves off!
Known more among locals and regional tourist searching for the famous sweets, Midan Street starts to fill up with customers after 10pm and dessert is served…I assume…until every belly is satisfied.
EAT SITTING DOWN : NARANJ
We were told many times, that this is where the President comes to dine. Naranj is a beautiful and well-located restaurant on Straight Street in the old city, that serves levantine cuisine with a new twist. The inventive chefs offer up several complex and usually delicious versions of the classics, and surprisingly a meal there doesn’t come close to doing the damage of many other tourist traps around town.
Meals at Naranj are best enjoyed in large groups where everyone can eat family-style and enjoy a broad sampling of their fantastic menu. The mezze began with an offering of freshly baked pitta bread to accompany our opening dishes: white-bean hummus, moutabbal and a tangy fatoush-inspired artichoke salad.
Meat in all forms were on offer, but my favorite had to be the pipping hot grilled meat kibbeh, which when sliced into oozed hot lamb scented oil all over our plates. Yum!
After several savory courses, we were stuffed. Not so shortly after we suddenly found room in our stomachs again when the complimentary dessert tray arrived, carrying delectable variations of deserts I already know and love.
Coconut sfouf cake, sesame cookies, soft crumbly mamoul, and flaky triangles of baklawa were too tempting not to taste. With an espresso or cup of tea, there was no better way imaginable to finish off what was an already decadent meal.
EAT SOMETHING SWEET : BAKDASH
After a long day of sightseeing in the old city’s Great Umayyad Mosque, the Roman ruins and Azem Palace, there is no better place to rest than at Bakdash. Now be careful to ask directions because it isn’t difficult to lose yourself in the great covered souqs of Damascus…and be tempted away from your final destination by the distracting sights and sounds of the market.
Once we made our way to the world famous parlor I felt giddy at the prospect of indulging in one of my favorite foods: ice cream! Channeling my energy into something productive, I participated a bit in the very active process of pounding pistachios into the stretchy mastic ice cream that Bakdash is known for. Caution: many confused tourists unwittingly and tragically end up ordering ordinary chocolate or vanilla soft serve and miss out on the hard stuff, which is the true specialty of the house.
The result of all that labor is like a work of art, that is admittedly almost more beautiful to look at than to taste.
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed every bite. However, I wished the ice cream itself was less hard and icy and instead had the slightly creamier consistency and milky flavor of stretchy Turkish dondurma, as I suspect it might perfectly contain and compliment those specially crushed pistachios. Well I can’t have it all now can I?
