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Guns & Butter: Amman, Jordan Travel Guide*

April 19, 2021

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Amman Travel Guide* is part of the Quest Around the Globe Trip Report.

TPOL’s Guns & Butter Travel Guide is the best way to see as much as you can in as little time as possible. Here’s how it works – A trip is composed of two factors: Labor And Lazy. The opportunity cost (what is given up) for relaxing and being Lazy is gained by being adventurous in the form of Labor and vice versa. The guide includes inefficient activities i.e., tourist traps that should be avoided and aspirational activities that are worth doing but may be impossible to see given the constraints of time and resources.

I have called this the Amman Travel Guide* because the city of Amman was the launching point to go to nearby Petra and the Dead Sea. With the asterisk explained, let’s move on to another Travel Guide.

Lodging

Can’t Stay

I stayed at Le Meridien when I went. Unfortunately, it is no longer a Marriott hotel. It was still worth a review.

Invalid request error occurred. — I would like to pay homage to the Le Meridien Amman for granting me extra early check-in at 3AM instead of making me find a corner of the lobby to crash.

Can Stay, But Can Skip Too

I stayed at the Grand Hyatt Amman. I was out of the hotel more than I was there. I should have stayed at the Dead Sea for a night instead of another hotel in the city center.

a sign on a wall — Since I barely spent any time at the hotel, my review of the hotel was quite brief.

Should’ve Stayed

Headed to the Dead Sea, the Uber driver asked if I had a specific place in mind and I said the public entrance. He said absolutely not and asked if I would rather go to a resort. Having done no research, I agreed to follow his advice, and we were taken to a luxurious oasis called the OH Beach Resort.

Food

I give 5-stars to Petra and the Dead Sea. I give an incomplete to the food in Jordan. Here’s why:

Petra

Waiting for the bus to take me back to Petra, I stopped at a restaurant for ‘authentic Jordanian food’. It reminded me of the $30 tourist trap taco s I had in Mexico City. Gordon Ramsey would not be amused.

a bowl of food with a spoon — Oh too much garlic.

a stack of tortillas in a basket — This is fresh?

a plate of food with rice and vegetables — The troops!

a bowl of food with a white sauce — Shut it down!

TPOL’s TIP: Petra is a tourist attraction. All the restaurants had the same menu and none of them looked particularly better than the others.

AL- Rainbow Street

The Scottsdale Road of Amman, AL-Rainbow Street is always hustling and bustling but where people are going, I have no idea. I saw the same cars driving by in circles bumping Arabic tunes and casualties of those stuck in endless traffic.

a street sign with a couple of cars parked on the side of a street cars parked cars on a street

I also had shwarma for dinner. a plate of food on a table

a red can of soda next to a plate of food a plate of food on a table Like Cyrpus, it did not make the list of best in the world (see The Best Kebab in the World).

Iraqi Food

In the neighborhood, I went to an Iraqi restaurant. As a Chaldean, my idea of Iraqi food is different than a Jordanian restaurant making Iraqi food. I ordered one of my favorite dishes, ‘bird’s head’. When Chaldeans make it, it is meatballs (the bird’s head) and potatoes in a loving stew. Here, it was anything but that. a bowl of food with meat and potatoes

I ordered fattoush salad and it was more fattoush (bread crumbs) than salad.

a bowl of food with a spoon

The kebab and tabbouleh were not grandma’s.

a close up of a tortilla a bowl of salad with tomatoes and greens a plate of food on a table

I need to go to Baghdad and figure out if this was a one-off or if Chaldean food and Iraqi food are that different.

TPOL’s Tip: Mawwal Restaurant is located at Zahran St 241, Amman, Jordan.

Mansaf

With only hours until my departure, the last item on the checklist was to eat mansaf, the national dish of Jordan. I asked the Grand Hyatt for a restaurant recommendation and the man replied, “At this hour? No restaurants will have mansaf. Besides having my mother cook you some, I don’t think you will find any.” He then tried calling a few restaurants and they verified his prediction. Despondent, I pleaded with him to call his mother at once. He told me to relax because right next door there was a restaurant called Jabri, which served mansaf. Better yet, I could pick it up on my way to the airport the next day. His recommendation proved true.

a plate of food on a table

Reader’s Tip: Falafel: The best falafel sandwich in the world is at AlQuds Falafel.

The Asterisk

Petra

This is why I came to Jordan. Read Do’s & Don’t’s for Visiting Petra for full coverage as this snippet cannot capture all the photos that I captured while I was there.

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