Mezze is not a starter in the Western sense. In the Levant — and very much in Jordan — mezze is a way of eating that can constitute an entire meal, a social ritual that unfolds slowly over a table covered in small plates, with bread to hand, conversation ongoing, and more dishes arriving as earlier ones are replenished. The best mezze meals take two to three hours.
This guide covers the twenty-odd small plates that constitute the core Levantine mezze repertoire as it appears in Jordan, explains what each is and how to evaluate quality, and identifies the restaurants where you can eat them well.
Cold mezze: the foundation
Hummus
The baseline from which all other mezze is measured. Made from cooked chickpeas blended with tahini (sesame paste), lemon juice, garlic, and salt. Served at room temperature or slightly warm, finished with olive oil and paprika, sometimes with a scattering of whole chickpeas.
Quality indicators: the hummus should be smooth but have texture, not gluey. The tahini should be present but not dominating. The lemon should provide brightness without sourness. Cold, grainy hummus from a container that has been sitting in a refrigerator for two days is not good hummus.
In Jordan, hummus is breakfast as much as it is a meze component — Hashem in Downtown Amman serves it from dawn, and it is perfectly normal to eat hummus with ful (fava beans) and falafel at 7am.
Mtabbal
Often called baba ghanouj outside the region, but the two dishes are distinct. Mtabbal is charred aubergine blended with tahini, lemon, garlic and salt — the aubergine is always fire-roasted, giving it a smokiness that is central to the dish. Baba ghanouj, the other aubergine dip, omits the tahini and may include tomato, onion, and parsley.
Good mtabbal should have visible smoke in the flavour, a silky texture, and a balance of tahini richness against the slight bitterness of the charred aubergine.
Labneh
Strained yoghurt, thickened until it resembles cream cheese in texture. Served drizzled with olive oil and finished with za’atar, dried mint, or sumac. Can be eaten on bread as a standalone breakfast or as part of a mezze spread. The tang of a good Jordanian labneh is pronounced — it is considerably more acidic than Greek yoghurt.
Sometimes served as labneh balls (rolled in olive oil and herbs, stored in jars) which have a drier, firmer texture and a more intense flavour — the Levantine equivalent of a preserved cheese.
Shanklish
A fermented and aged yoghurt cheese, rolled in za’atar or chilli, with a crumbly, intensely flavoured result. Usually served crumbled over a small plate with diced tomato and onion. One of the strongest-flavoured items in the mezze repertoire — not universally liked immediately but worth trying. Syrian-origin, found in most good Jordanian restaurants.
Makdous
Small aubergines preserved in olive oil, stuffed with a mixture of walnuts, red chilli, and garlic. One of the Levant’s great preserved foods — intensely flavoured, addictive with bread. The best versions are made by women’s cooperatives (Bait Khairat Souf in Amman produces an excellent version) and the quality is dramatically higher than the commercially jarred alternative.
Foul / Ful
Slow-cooked fava beans dressed with lemon, olive oil, garlic and cumin. An ancient dish — fava beans have been cultivated in this region for millennia — and one that is eaten across the Middle East and North Africa in countless variations. The Jordanian version tends to be simply dressed and served as part of a breakfast spread alongside hummus and falafel.
Fattoush
The salad made with tomato, cucumber, radish, spring onions, fresh mint, parsley, and toasted or fried pieces of flatbread, dressed with a tart pomegranate molasses and lemon dressing. The bread should be crisp when eaten — if it is soggy, the salad was dressed too early or made with stale bread. Sumac adds a sour, fruity dimension.
Tabbouleh
The parsley-dominant bulgur salad of Lebanese and Syrian origin. The important thing to know: good tabbouleh is mostly parsley, with fine bulgur as a supporting element and a sharp lemon dressing. What is served in many Western restaurants — a bowl of bulgur with some parsley sprinkled over — is not tabbouleh. In Jordan and Lebanon, the ratio is reversed.
Hot mezze: the depth
Kibbeh
Ground lamb mixed with fine bulgur wheat, onion and spices, shaped into oval croquettes and deep-fried to a crisp. The filling is a second preparation of spiced lamb with pine nuts. The contrast between the crisp bulgur shell and the juicy filling inside is the point of the dish.
Kibbeh exists in many forms across the Levant: baked in a tray, raw (kibbeh nayyeh), in a yoghurt broth (kibbeh bil laban). The fried version is the most common mezze presentation.
Kibbeh nayyeh
Raw kibbeh — the Levantine answer to steak tartare. Ground lamb (or beef) mixed with fine bulgur, onion, salt and spices, served raw, dressed with olive oil and eaten immediately with fresh bread. Found at upscale Jordanian-Lebanese restaurants; this is the version that requires the freshest meat and the most confidence in the kitchen. Not for everyone, but worth trying once with a reliable restaurant.
Warak inab
Stuffed grape vine leaves — the classic Lebanese-Jordanian version uses a rice and minced lamb filling, tightly rolled, simmered with lemon juice until tender. The vine leaves should be soft but still intact, the filling moist, and the overall balance of lemon and olive oil bright. Frequently over-lemoned or under-seasoned in lower-quality restaurants.
Vegetarian versions (rice with herbs and olive oil, without meat) are also common and are often made in home kitchens during the summer when fresh vine leaves are available.
Fattet
A layered dish in which torn flatbread pieces are soaked in broth or stock, then layered with chickpeas, yoghurt, tahini and pine nuts. There are several regional variations (fattet dajaj uses chicken broth; fattet hummus is chickpea-focused). A textural dish — the soaked bread provides body while the yoghurt provides tartness — and one of the most filling items on a mezze spread.
Fatayer
Small triangular pastries filled with spinach and sumac (the classic), or minced meat and onion, or white cheese. Baked rather than fried. Best eaten hot from the oven; they lose something when they sit and cool. A good bakery that specialises in fatayer (there are several in Amman’s Downtown) produces a better version than most restaurants.
Manakish
Technically a breakfast bread rather than a mezze item, but worth including because Jordanian restaurants sometimes serve it as part of a spread. Flatbread baked with za’atar mixed with olive oil pressed into the dough before baking, or with akkawi cheese. The za’atar version should smell of dried thyme and toasted sesame; the cheese version should have visible blistered patches.
The mezze table in practice
A well-ordered mezze meal for four people at a restaurant like Sufra or Fakhr el-Din would cover:
Cold: hummus, mtabbal, labneh, fattoush, tabbouleh, warak inab, possibly shanklish Hot: kibbeh, fatayer, perhaps fattet Bread: continuously replenished
This is already a substantial meal — roughly 10–12 dishes — before any main course. The main course (mansaf, maqluba, grilled meats) follows if you order one, but is not mandatory. Many tables at these restaurants order mezze only and are content.
The ordering process at a mezze restaurant is collaborative. The waiter will come for the mezze order and then check back for mains. It is perfectly acceptable to order mezze, eat it over 90 minutes, and then decide whether you want a main based on remaining appetite.
Where to eat mezze in Amman
Sufra
Rainbow Street, Jabal Amman. The most thoughtful mezze in the city. Recipes from old Jordanian and Palestinian cookbooks, quality ingredients, attractive setting in a restored villa. The cold mezze spread here is the reference point for understanding what the dishes should taste like when made well. Budget 20–35 JOD per person for a full meal with drinks.
Fakhr el-Din
Jabal Amman, a few minutes from Sufra. A Lebanese-Jordanian restaurant with a longer pedigree in Amman’s upscale dining scene. The mezze is excellent, the setting (an old villa with garden) is lovely, and the wine list is one of the better ones in the city. Slightly more expensive than Sufra.
Reem Al Bawadi
Mecca Street and other branches. The volume option — very large portions, very consistent quality, very popular with Jordanian families. Less interesting as a curated experience but excellent value and representative of how Jordanians eat mezze in a celebratory setting.
Downtown Amman / Wast el-Balad
The street-food version of mezze is found here. Individual components — hummus from a dedicated hummus shop, falafel from Hashem, fatayer from a bakery — eaten standing or at simple tables. This is a different experience from the restaurant mezze meal but equally valid and considerably cheaper.
Food tours and mezze
Both of the leading food tours in Amman cover multiple mezze components across their stops.
Women-led food tour through Amman's culinary scene Amman food walking tour: the authentic local food experienceThe advantage of a tour over an independent restaurant meal is breadth: you will eat hummus from one specialist, knafeh from another, fatayer from a bakery, and will move through the city between each stop. The disadvantage is that you do not linger at a table for two hours, which is the proper mezze experience. Both are worth having; they teach you different things.
Bread and the mezze table
Bread is not a side item in a mezze meal — it is structural. The bread (khubz, flatbread) is used as a utensil to scoop dips, as a wrapper for kibbeh and fatayer, as the vehicle for labneh and makdous. A mezze table without continuously replenished bread is incomplete.
The standard bread served at Jordanian and Lebanese restaurants is a slightly puffed round flatbread, similar to pita but softer and thicker. A good restaurant tears it from a warm stack; a mediocre one puts it in a basket to go cold. The temperature of the bread at the moment you eat it is a reliable indicator of the restaurant’s overall attention.
Artisanal bread options at better restaurants include: taboon bread (baked on pebbles in a taboon oven, producing a cratered, chewy surface), shrak (the paper-thin Bedouin bread, more often found in very traditional restaurants), and manakish as a bread component rather than a standalone dish.
Olive oil: the essential condiment
Olive oil on the mezze table is not a garnish. It is used generously — poured over hummus, drizzled on labneh, used to preserve makdous, mixed into the fattoush dressing, saucing the fatayer. Jordanian olive oil comes primarily from the highland areas of Ajloun and Jarash, where olive cultivation has continued since ancient times.
The quality of olive oil at a restaurant is a useful signal about the kitchen’s overall approach. Restaurants that use cheap vegetable oil to save cost will mask it in most dishes but not in the mezze, where olive oil is consumed directly on bread. If the oil tastes flat or rancid, something is wrong.
Drinks with mezze
The traditional drink accompaniment to a mezze meal is arak — the anise-flavoured spirit diluted with water (see Jordanian wine guide). The anise flavour is specifically designed to complement the flavours of mezze; the tradition of drinking arak throughout a long mezze meal has been practised in the Levant for centuries.
For those who do not drink alcohol: ayran (cold, lightly salted yoghurt drink) is the most traditional non-alcoholic accompaniment and cuts through the richness of the dips beautifully. Fresh lemon juice with mint, or simply cold water, also works well.
Ordering wine with mezze is entirely acceptable in the upscale Amman restaurants that serve it; the wine lists at Sufra and Fakhr el-Din include Lebanese and Jordanian options. A medium-bodied red (Syrah or Cabernet) works well with the meat-based mezze; a crisp white or rosé with the cold dip spread.
Seasonal variations in mezze
The mezze repertoire is not fixed year-round. Some dishes are seasonal:
Spring: Fresh herbs (mint, parsley, chives) at peak quality; freshest fattoush of the year. Wild rocket (jarjeer) from the highlands appears as a salad or garnish. Fresh vine leaves for warak inab, greener and more delicate than the brined summer version.
Summer: The most abundant season for fresh vegetables. Tomatoes at peak ripeness make fattoush and tabbouleh at their best. Makdous is made in late summer when small aubergines are at their peak.
Autumn: Fresh figs sometimes appear as a mezze element at progressive restaurants. Pomegranate molasses — made from fresh autumn pomegranates — is at its most vibrant in fattoush.
Winter: A shift toward heartier preparations. Fattet (the layered bread-and-yoghurt dish) is more common. Kibbeh preparations that involve braising in yoghurt sauce (kibbeh bil laban) appear more frequently.
FAQ
How many mezze dishes should I order?
For two people at a restaurant, 6–8 cold mezze dishes plus 2–3 hot dishes is a substantial meal. For four people, 10–12 cold and 4–5 hot dishes is appropriate if you are also having a main course; more if mezze is the entire meal.
Is mezze always shared?
Yes. Mezze is designed for sharing. Individual plates are placed in the centre of the table. Do not order individual portions; order shared plates.
Is vegetarian mezze possible?
Largely yes. Most cold mezze is vegetarian: hummus, mtabbal, labneh, fattoush, tabbouleh, shanklish, warak inab (sometimes). Hot mezze has more meat content (kibbeh, fatayer with meat). A vegetarian could eat very well from a mezze spread by ordering the cold dishes plus spinach fatayer, vegetarian warak inab, and fattet.
What is the difference between Lebanese and Jordanian mezze?
The repertoire is almost identical — the two cuisines share the same foundation. The differences are subtle: Jordanian mezze leans more on Bedouin influences (more lamb, more rice), and some dishes (mansaf, maqluba, msakhan) are specifically Jordanian or Palestinian-Jordanian rather than Lebanese. The Palestinian influence in Jordanian cooking also differentiates it from Lebanon in the details.
Is it rude to have mezze without ordering a main course?
No. Many Jordanians and Lebanese eat mezze-only meals, particularly at lunch. It is perfectly acceptable to tell your waiter that you are having mezze only and see no rush.