Bakdash – Amman, Jordan

Restaurant Review: Bakdash ★★★★★

For those not in the know, Bakdash (or Bakdāš بَكْدَاش) is the seminal ice cream parlor of Syria. Located in Damascus, they have been in business for almost 130 years. Due to the civil war, I highly doubt I’ll be able to travel there any time soon, so I was over the moon when I learned they opened their one and only branch in Amman in 2013. I LOVE ice cream, so making the trip here was a must!

One hot and humid night I decided to head off with high exceptions. I hailed a taxi and the driver seemed extremely confused about why I wanted to go to this section of Amman. This was when I first I realized how out of the way this ice cream parlor is. Clearly they set up in a place that was for locals and displaced Syrian refuges who fled into Jordan.

We drove for what seemed like forever. I kept an eye on my GPS linked map to make sure we were headed the right direction. After about a half hour we arrived. The taxi dropped me off and everything looked confusing. After some searching up and down the street I found Bakdash, which could be described as a hole in the wall type place.

Nothing So Special About their Special

I got their signature special; pistachio nuts on some kind of milk cream ice cream. It was surprisingly bland and half way through I was hopelessly bored with it. Even worse, there were a few pistachio shells in the mix. Not fun.

Bakdash has been called the best in the Middle East, and maybe their flagship location in Syria is all that. Their branch in Amman didn’t even come close to living up to the hype. It most certainly didn’t hold a candle to El Abd in Cairo or Hanna Mitri in Beirut.

Considering how out of the way Bakdash is, you should just give it a skip. I’ve sadly got to say that this place isn’t worth your time, effort, or money.

Need more information about Jordan?

Check out our full write up on Amman HERE.
Read about our adventures in the north & all the rest HERE. (coming soon)
See our stories about Wadi Rum HERE.
Learn all about Petra HERE.

Contact & General Information

Price: More Expensive than Average

Hours: Daily 10am -12am; Fridays until 2am

Website: They don’t have a dedicated website, but they are on Facebook.

Location: Google