World Food Thursdays

Country No. 28: Jordan

Venue: Unnamed Stall, Tachbrook Market

Attendees: Ben, Ellen, Maor, PK (venue chosen by Ellen)

Cost: £5 a head

 

When it comes to World Food there really is only one expert. It was Ellen who used Facebook in French to locate cuisine from the Cote D’Ivoire and it is Ellen, again, who has come up with the goods finding London’s only purveyors of Jordanian food, at a small, weekday lunchtime only, street food market in Pimlico. Lesser beings may have given up and switched to an easier country but Ellen’s perseverance and surprisingly effective googling came up trumps. The weekday lunchtime meant that the gastrogang would be diminished, a disappointment following the highs of the well-attended three year anniversary, but understandable nonetheless.

 

Ellen and Ben, taking a leisurely day off to explore South East England’s antique markets, were free to attend, as was PK who works in the area. Credit to Maor who made his way over from Charing Cross just to sample Jordan’s culinary arts.

 

As has been discussed at length pre-starters have become something of a thing with this group and it seems that the Lebanese must have gotten wind of our endeavours as Jordan’s erstwhile neighbours were only too happy to offer us samples of crispy, hot falafel while we assembled in front of the Jordanian gazebo.

 

As befitting a small street food stall the  menu was slim and simple fare, with the only options being lamb with beans, chicken with sumac, chicken and spinach with pomegranate, lamb with okra and an unnamed spicy dish. All options were served with either rice or noodles in small (medium) or large (enormous) containers. Sensing our internal torment the kindly proprietors allowed us to not only taste each option before buying (a first for WFT) but also to mix dishes if we couldn’t make up our minds. Each and every attendee took them up on their offer and so we decamped to a local playground to gorge ourselves on Jordanian delights. The meat was succulent and tender, and notably steamed rather than fried. In fact no oil was used in cooking any of the dishes, which was noticeable in not only the flavour but also the lack of a greasy after-taste.

 

The best received dish was probably the sumac chicken, although the chicken and spinach also got some serious love from all parties.  Criticism, if you can call it that, would be that the portions were very heavy on the rice – quantities could easily be smaller, keeping the price the same and just reducing the amount of rice. Having said that we still managed to drag ourselves across to an Italian patisserie for some decidedly un-Jordanian desserts.

 

Jordanian Facts:

No facts

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