JORDAN (AQABA)

In case you go to Aqaba on holiday or business, you should be aware that the three 'Indian' restaurants listed in the tourist information, and a pamphlet entitled 'Where to Eat in Aqaba', will come as something as a disappointment.

The three listed are the Shaheen Tikka Chicken, Tikka Chicken, and the Pakestani (sic) Restaurant. I set off to investigate.

The Tikka Chicken is set on a road behind the Aqaba Gulf Hotel near the waterside. It displays no menu, and looks a cafe-style restaurant (ie no tablecloths, although it looked modern and clean). It was very quiet when we were there except at the weekend, which was a national holiday weekend, when it was crowded with Jordanians. From peering in the window it looked as though the fare was kebabs, burgers, and no doubt chicken tikka, but not Indian food.

The Shaheen Tikka Chicken is a little further up in a road branching off (but can easily be seen). This looked similar, and did have a menu, but the only Indian dish I could see was Chicken Tikka, with the remainder being various kebabs and fast food. No Indian dishes as we know them.

The Pakistani Restaurant is in a side road off one of the main thorougfares, but is no more than a basic and fairly grubby-looking cafe, with worn Formica-topped tables. Again the was no menu. It may well offer Pakistani food, but the man behind the small counter (there were no customers both times I looked In) was Arabic. I might have tried it for a lunchtime snack had I been in the area at lunchtime, but it definitely didn't attract for an evening meal.

If you want something approximating an Indian meal, then I would suggest Floka's Fish Restaurant next to Tikka Chicken, where their Fish Sayyaadieh (a Jordanian dish) is some good fish on a bed of spicy rice, and is a bit like a fish Biryani.

Malcolm Wilkins - January 2007