Amman
Amman
Jordan
"Jordanian sisters Nafsika and Stephanie Skourti stitch Middle Eastern glamour to British-style avant-garde with their Nafsika Skourti label. Below, their tips for where to shop and what to pick up in Amman, a city that's fast becoming the region's most fashionable hub. Trinitae “Set in an old villa off Rainbow Street, the store gathers the best soaps and aromatherapy oils. We applaud the commitment to heritage soapmaking—and especially love the orange scrub.” Jordan River Foundation “A social enterprise that supports various projects by selling tableware, hand-loomed rugs, and embroidered cushions. Stop for lunch too: The pastries and spicy macarons are excellent.” Kama “This place sources beautifully packaged food—spice blends, wild honey, oil-cured items such as labneh-stuffed vine leaves. The idea stems from a desire to help women in local communities, who supply many of the ingredients.” Souq Al Jum'a “Friday Market actually opens on Thursday evenings and lasts until the next afternoon. We like the energy of the place and often sift through the racks of clothes, from Afghan coats to embellished dresses, for inspiration—you can find great wild-card items you didn't even know you were looking for.” Turbo “This design studio and event space hosts pop-up showrooms, film screenings, and biannual sales of local illustrators' and designers' print pieces. A café called Yes Yes Coffee is in the works too.” —Charlotte Davey" - CNT Editors
"When, during the construction of the falafel pita, the constructor takes the extra time to compress the already packed ingredients in order to better stuff in more, it bodes well for dinner. Here, the Jordanian owner Khaleel Salman, who comes from a family of falafel-makers in Amman, takes that extra step to shmush, but he takes others as well. The flair, for example, with which he flicks the silver foil shut around the engorged pita, is like to-go origami. The falafel itself is like a little ball of lava, steam escaping from the solid crust. It comes with fattoush so fresh it seems tumbled from the greengrocers and neon-green pickled peppers in thin arabesques that resemble a Kehinde Wiley background." - Joshua David Stein
