An old house in Madaba converted into a restaurant that serves traditional homemade Jordanian dishes…
Madaba is situated 35km to the south east of Amman. There are many places to visit and sights to discover. It is also known as the ‘City of Mosaics’ because it has many mosaics covering the floors of its churches and old houses. The famous mosaic of the ‘Holy Land’ is preserved in the floor of the Orthodox Church of St. George which is also called ‘the Church of the Map’. This mosaic is composed of over two million pieces of naturally coloured stones. There are also other mosaic masterpieces carpeting floors of several churches such as ‘the Church of the Virgin’ and ‘the Apostles’. Mount Nebo is located minutes away from the center of Madaba. This is where Prophet Moses saw the ‘Promised Land’ before his death. It is said to be his burial place too.
After visiting some of these places and when you need to reenergise to continue your trip, there’s nothing better than stopping by one of the local restaurants that serve home-made Jordanian food.
So as we were visiting Madaba (it also happens to be our hometown!), we went to this lovely restaurant called “Hikeyet Sitti”. If you translate Hikayet Sitti to Arabic, it means “my grandmother’s story”.
Hikayet Sitti restaurant is an old house in Madaba which was recently converted into a restaurant, the house is 110 years old and it belongs to the Jordanian “Karadsheh” family. The chef “Feryal” – who is also the owner – cooks traditional dishes using fresh local produce and offers a wide variety of delicious mezza (appetizers). She was very welcoming and friendly. The restaurant has six chambers and a terrace to sit outside.
The atmosphere was relaxing and the music played in the background was enjoyable. Lunches and dinners need to be booked in advance.
We also got the chance to help Feryal with the cooking which was quite fun as she explained to us her method how she cooked “Musakhan”.
Musakhan is a traditional Jordanian/Palestinian dish that is mainly made from traditional arabic bread, chicken, olive oil, sumac and lots of onions! Which also happens to be one of our favourite dishes in the Middle Eastern cuisine.
Disclosure: We were guests of Jordan Tourism Board, but all opinions are our own.