6.156 Jordanian Grill Platter

katch4246

11 years ago

6.156

10 (Wed) June 2015

Jordanian Grill Platter

2.0

at Kempinski Hotel [room service]

-Amman-

solo

Mission to Jordan, Day 3 (see previously 6.155 Dough!).

In Amman. Arrived yesterday. Today thru Saturday, I’m participating in a workshop to support countries in strengthening their legal frameworks to restrict the marketing of junk food to kids. Going back Sunday evening.

Despite the fancy facade and famous lineage, the Kempinski Hotel in Amman wasn’t too impressive.

After the first day of the workshop, too tired to go out — still jet-lagged, woke up this morning at 0400 — I opted to stay in and get room service.

The “Jordanian Grill Platter” will have to suffice as my first Jordanian dinner for GMTD.

Two days in country, and I have yet to enjoy a proper dinner here.

Even worse, both dinners thus far — one of which was actually lunch — have been in this very room.

Tabouli (2.5) — at least I got to try my favorite Arabic dish at the source; essentially the same as those that I’ve had in Manila (see for example 6.137 Mixed Grill + Tabouleh), but with way more (too much) olive oil.

The food was meh. All the meats — lamb chop, lamb kafta, chicken kebab, beef kebab — were dry. The rice was dry. The tabouleh made up for it — maybe that explains all that oil. Whatever.

The photo doesn’t adequately capture the enormity of this platter, the biggest plating of rice that I’ve ever seen; those are whole chickens (each about 1 kg).

On the other hand, I was blown away by the buffet in the hotel, both at breakfast and at lunch. Mostly vegetables, fresh or pickled, delicately dressed in various combinations of lemon juice and/or olive oil and/or herbs and/or spices. Meats, simply grilled. No heavy/greasy sauces in sight, just a whole lot of lusciously light yet creamy dips/spreads, such as labneh (yogurt), moutabal (eggplant), hummus (chickpea). AWESOME.

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