ULTIMATE JORDANIAN FOOD TOUR + Amman City Tour

If the rest of the food in Jordan is this good, I'd say we're each gonna gain about 10 pounds before.

I'm gonna be about as round as this falafel by the time we leave Jordan. Is this my first home?

I totally disagree with Kath.

Good morning from the rooftop of our Airbnb in our 87th country of Jordan.

We totally fell in love with the Middle east last year when we came here for the first time, which is why we're so excited to be exploring this new country for the next week.

So we've in Amman for the past week, we just rented an Airbnb and we've been holed up inside it editing. So the only thing we've seen is anything that's within about a 10 minute walk of where we're staying.

So today is actually the first day that we're going out and doing stuff in Amman. And everybody knows that our favorite way to get to know a new place is through the food. So today we're eating a lot of.

Jordanian food and we'll see some of the big sites like in between to make room in our stomachs for the food.

We've eaten at the same two local restaurants every day since we've been in Jordan, this being one of them. It is the best falafel sandwich I have ever had. It's so simple. You just walk into this little hole in the wall place, you say sesame bread or regular bread, but they always run out of sesame because it's best how to get reg they put fresh fried falafel inside with vegetables, tahini sauce and then they smush it like a panini. And the best part is it costs less than a dollar. I've seriously had at least 10 of these since we've been here. And apparently it's perfectly acceptable to have a falafel sandwich for breakfast because it's about 10 o'. Clock.

So we're actually going to be spending the next week traveling around with a friend. Some of you may remember Nano from when we visited Abu Dhabi last year.

She told us that if we ever made it back to the Middle east to let her know. So when we were planning this trip, we asked her if she'd be interested in meeting us in Jordan and she said yes.

So we're about to meet up with her now for a traditional Jordanian breakfast.

Hi guys. Nano is going to make our time here so much better. We're going to have a lot of fun. We actually have another person joining us today. Our local tour Guide.

Hello.

We are at a restaurant called Hashim. Everyone has told us to come here. Apparently, it is famous in Oman, and we've ordered so many beautiful, delicious dishes. I'm probably most excited about this stuffed falafel. I've never had this before. We have full, which is beans with some olive oil and chickpeas. I have no idea what this green stuff is. Pepper.

Pepper.

We have some salad vegetables, some regular falafel, and of course, some Jordanian tea. I'm so excited about this. Oh, you're gonna eat a lot. And you can't forget the bread. I feel really healthy with most of the things on the table until I eat, like, three pieces of these. We just learned that the traditional way to eat falafel and hummus is just to use it like a spoon. Dip the falaf waffle ride in the hummus.

That's good. My kind of breakfast, I think my favorite part is that we don't have plates. You just eat your bread off the table, dip it in all the yummy things.

What's your name?

Nice to meet you.

Okay, so I'm not sure if it's traditional to have dessert after breakfast, but that's exactly what we're doing. We've come to a famous sweet shop called Habiba, and we're having their specialty, which is kunatha. It's like this savory, sweet dessert. So the bottom layer of it is cheese. Like this thick, stretchy, delicious, savory cheese. And then on top, they have this layer of, like, little noodles, like little hard noodles that, to me, as an American, looks like the breakfast cereal that I grew up eating. Shredded wheat. And on top of all of that, they take boiling sugar water, they pour it on top so that the plate is swimming in it, and then they finish it off by sprinkling some crushed pistachios on top. I think this might be my new favorite dessert. You know how, like, normally sweet things, you can only eat a couple bites before it just kind of, like, starts to feel, like, too much. This dish is dangerous because, like, the savory element of the cheese kind of balances out the sweet. So you can eat an entire plate without even thinking about it.

Hello.

Hello.

So it's only 12 o', clock, and we've probably eaten more food than we should for an entire day. So in order to try to make a little more room in our stomachs, we're gonna do a little sightseeing. We are in the old city right now, and inside of the old city, There are, like, two of the most famous things that you have to see while you're here in Amman. One is a Roman amphitheater. Like, you're walking through the busy, crowded streets of Aman, through the market, and.

Then all of a sudden, literally, we rounded a corner and we were like, wow. You would never expect an ancient Roman theater to be right here, just right.

In the middle of the city.

Gonna get my vocal cords ready.

Cara's positioned perfectly in the middle of the amphitheater and theoretically all the way up here at the top, I should be able to hear what she's singing. It's quite the climb. Probably good, though, since I had the whole plate of can.

The towel.

I can't hear you.

I couldn't hear anything you were saying. Were you singing?

I was singing, Mama.

This amphitheater is located right in the middle of the city. There's a huge busy street just like right on the other side of the wall. So maybe that kind of drowned it out, some of the noise.

I don't think the Romans had horns back then.

There are no safety rails back in the Roman times. I was so nerv.

Guess I'm going to fall.

So the ruins behind me are from a temple that was built in the Roman times, and they think that it used to be dedicated to the God of Hercules. And this is all based on this hand that they found here on the grounds. They found a piece of a hand and a piece of an elbow.

It's not just any hand, though. Just the knuckle part of the hand is about this big. So the scale of it, knowing how huge it had to have been, they think could only be for the God of Hercules.

They said it would have been about 50ft tall. Sitting up here overlooking the city.

Quite windy at the citadel.

It's lunchtime. You'll see why I'm hesitant in a moment.

Wow.

Just stirring up some sheep heads and some intestines. Casual day in Jordan.

Oh.

Can'T forget about the feet. I never thought this day would come. We are about to eat the face of a sheep, including its brain and tongue.

And tongue, yeah.

So apparently this is not an everyday meal. These are kind of for special occasions or weddings or funerals. You'll eat an entire head on top of a plate of rice. But we have a head that's been split in half already for us. There's a lot going on here. Like, there's a lot of different parts of the head that you can eat.

Yeah, of course. Actually, this part is half tongue because the Other half is over here. And this is the back of the head, which is the. The brain over here. So you can see it's juicy. You can, like, take a spoon like this and try to take it out and eat it.

So I'm gonna find my brain on my part of the head.

I got you one. I got you one.

Oh, thanks.

Yeah, just try it.

Okay.

All right.

Go for it.

My first brain.

Delicious.

I got a heart thing.

Really? A small, small bowl.

Brain's not bad.

Yeah, it's not.

It's really not.

All right.

I thought the texture would kind of get to me, but it tastes kind of like fat. Like, it's slippery.

Exactly.

But not chewy. So this is the broth of everything that we're eating right now.

Fries.

That's really nice. Like, buttery smooth. So savory salty. I never thought that happened. Be enjoying a sheepshead. Okay, let's get to the tongue. Oh, jawbone.

That was a good sized bite.

Not bad at all.

Oh, nice.

It's very tender. A little fat, but the seasoning is what's so good. Like, I would never think that this was a tongue. It tastes really nice, huh? I'm a try.

Nanno's grandmother used to make this all the time, and she would never eat it. Yeah. And now I would try it with her. You go, girl.

It's not so bad. It's not bad brain.

I can't believe I'm doing this.

Cheers. Cheers.

It's not bad at all. I'm so proud. Go, Ash. You made me real Jordanian now. I would have thought we'd be sitting here eating brain and tongue together after meeting last year in Abu Dhabi. From gold coffee to brains.

It's your turn now, Nate.

You got it for me?

Yeah, it's for you.

Got stuck with the big bite. It's. Honestly, it's not, like, as mushy as I thought it would be. It's got a little more substance to it. Don't want to look at it too long now.

I totally disagree with Kath.

It doesn't taste bad, but the texture, like, really got to me. I started thinking about it too much. I can't even say thinking.

You have to try the tongue now.

Oh, and now I get to try the tongue. It tastes gamey, but it's not bad at all. It's just like, you got to mentally get past what you're eating. There it is again.

Oh, the tongue's much better.

Yeah.

Like, it's very much the consistency of a well cooked roast beef. It almost Just melts in your mouth.

This is the eye.

This is the eye. If you want to try the eye, you can do it.

I have had an eye before.

Oh, yeah. It's in his mouth.

Cara has not.

Oh, no, I don't think I can do it. Okay, fine.

Give it to me.

All right, take it.

Oh, it's.

Just, like, squeaked out.

Okay, you can take this one out. Okay, eat it like that.

Okay.

Can I dip it in yogurt sauce?

Yeah.

So many firsts today. First brain, first tongue, and now my first eyeball.

I can't even look. So many things happening. The outside is way thicker than it looks, and the inside's really slimy. I think I prefer the brain. I'm just gonna put this back in.

Its socket, and that's all that's left.

That was an extremely memorable meal. And YouTube, before you demonetize this video, remember, this is. This is culture. This is tradition. We're not just doing it because it's gross. So we have driven outside the old city to a very unique museum. Apparently, the royal family of Jordan is very into cars, so they've amassed a very impressive collection, and they're all on display here in this museum.

I don't even consider myself a big car guy, but that was really cool.

We are back in the old town, and we are continuing our food tour with something a little more normal by our standards. This is a shawarma wrap, and we've gotten it from the most popular place that you can get it. It's supposed to be the best in Amman. It's called Reams, and they're famous for their shawarma. There's honestly nothing that special about it. It's just really good meat with some vegetables and some yogurt sauce, and they toast it to perfection with this giant iron on a grill. So it's nice and crispy on the edges. Just the perfect combination of everything. They're so small, I could eat, like, four of them. So good. We have to save room, though. We still have more to eat tonight. Very good, Shukron.

Hello. So I actually read an article about this place in the New York Times, and it said that they serve over 5,000 shawarmas a day and that the two brothers who start at this place actually drive around town in Porsches.

Just this tiny little shawarma stand.

It's crazy. Very unassuming. Supposed to be sharing this, but somehow I've only got one bite.

Okay. For our last meal of the day, we are at this fancy but super traditional restaurant called Soufra. And it's a big deal because they have this wall with all of these famous people who have eaten here. I'm so excited. I'm actually hungry. Believe it or not, we've done a lot of walking today. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. There are at least 13 different dishes on the table. Right. I can't take credit for ordering any of them, but they all look incredible. There's so many new things. A few things that we've had before, like hummus and this aubergine dip. I think everything else is new. We have this super pink cauliflower, two different salads, some kind of potato and egg mixture. That looks amazing. I'm probably most excited about that. Something that has a flame underneath it.

Yum. This is minced lamb with the most beautiful fried breading on the outside that has, like, cinnamon in it, so it's kind of sweet. Next up is the other fried thing that I'm not sure what it is.

Cooch cheese. This cheese is so salty with this perfectly flaky pastry on the outside. And we are washing it all down with one of my favorite drinks in the whole entire world, this lemon mint juice. It is so refreshing. The citrus of the lemon is such a great palate cleanser with all these, like, bold. And there are at least 10 more dishes on the table right now that I don't think I could try in this video or it would be 30 minutes longer. So you're just gonna have to take my word for it. It's gonna be awesome.

Yeah. Instead of, like, an ice cream truck, they have this fruit truck that drives around playing music.

So.

Now you know why we all have a little bit more weight, and we eat it as a gum. All right. Arabic gum.

So you're supposed to suck on it. Yeah.

She's telling me she's gonna break her. It really didn't have much flavor. Like, it tastes like plastic. But now that I'm letting it kind of soak in, it's getting like. Like a creamier consistency and a little more flavor. Apparently, you're supposed to suck on it, and I've just been chewing it out. They boil it with water for kidney who have kidney failures to clean their kidneys. My kidneys are going to be in good health. He's working.

We're going to film anything else. But then I took a bite of this dish called chicken fata. It's chicken breast with this crispy fried bread, yogurt sauce, zucchini. It is so flavorful. And I just had to include it just in case anyone's coming to Amman and comes to soup, wrap it this dish, it.