I have so much to blog on, haven’t found time since we got home this week! G and I went to Jordan for EID last weekend. It’s a short 3-hour flight away and definitely a place worth visiting! I’ll catch up on the sight-seeing part later – first off, a little review on my special birthday dinner at Via Appia Italian Restaurant @ Kempinski Amman 🙂
From Warwick II Palazzo Hotel, it’s a about a 0.75 JD to get there. Took us a bit of wandering to find the entrance to the hotel ha, because from the roadside there is no grand entrance like most hotels in Dubai (or that it wasn’t obvious?).
We were greeted by Alex, the friendly and very professional restaurant staff that took care of us for the rest of the night. She knew my name by my booking, which was really pleasant – I felt special! Hehe.
I started with a nice glass of Saint George’s Shiraz (30AED), from Jordan. We didn’t know that Jordan actually produced wine, and it was actually quite nice – I don’t normally like Shiraz’ in general because I find it quite dry, but this one actually very easy-to-drink, ha!
Alex recommended the chef’s specialialty Truffle White tomato soup with basil (30AED). I don’t usually order soup to start but I’m glad I listened to her advice – it was creamy, very tasteful and delicious. G ordered the seared salmon scaloppini, with beetroot carpaccio, roasted walnut and gorgonlaza cream. It was just okay – we felt that the salmon was a little overcooked, but hey – seafood is hard to get in Amman as it is very much inland, so I guess they’ll have to cook it well-done! That, or we still prefer our home-cook teriyaki salmon’s from Carrefour, ha ha.
For mains, I thought I’ll try another chef specialty, the seared scallops, jumbo shrimps, cooked with asparagus, green peas and homemade fettucini ( 92.50AED). This was good, the fettucini was very well-cooked. G had the herb-roasted rack of lamb, with honey-roasted onion marmalade, potato eggplant tart and thyme sauce. I actually liked his lamb more than my dish ha ha, so we were both just digging out each other plates.
We finished the night with tiramisu, as well as a big birthday fruit tart compliments of the chef. That was a nice surprise 🙂
It’s nice quiet atmosphere for couples, and will be good as well for families and friends I say. Definitely needs more patrons though – not sure where everyone in Amman goes to but if they haven’t been to Via Appia they should check it out?
And while you’re there, say hi to Alex for me 🙂 Cheers as well to Ayman, the assistant F&B Manager, and Mais Zurekat for organizing a special birthday dinner for me. We’ll come say hi the next time we go back to Amman.
- Via Appia Italian Restaurant
- Kempinski Hotel Amman
Abdul Hamid Shouman Street
Shmeisani 941045 Amman 11194 Jordan
Tel: +962 6 5200200
Fax: +962 6 5200202
concierge.amman@kempinski.com - Website