Traditional western breakfasts bore me so I always love trying breakfasts around the world to find something that’s more to my taste. In India I love a spicy masala dosa, in Malaysia I was a fan of roti canai—flaky pancakes with dhal, and after our recent trip to Jordan I’ve now discovered the delights of a Middle Eastern breakfast.
This breakfast was selected from the Jordanian section of the extensive and wonderful breakfast buffet at the Kempinski Hotel in Aqaba on the Red Sea, but we had a variation of this everywhere.
Here’s what I ate (clockwise from the top):
- Hummus—chickpea dip with tahini, lemon, garlic and olive oil. Popular mezze dish in Jordan.
- Zaatar w zeit—dried thyme, sesame seeds and sumac mixed with olive oil. Often the herby mix was served separately from the oil and you mixed it up yourself.
- Pitta bread. Flat bread of some kind is essential to every meal.
- Labneh—strained yoghurt that has a creamy cheese consistency. Served in balls in olive oil.
- Cherry tomatoes and cucumber
- Feta cheese—oh so creamy.
- Olives
Simple, healthy and utterly delicious.
For more information about delicious Jordanian food see our vegetarian guide to Jordan.
Do you like Middle Eastern breakfasts? Leave a comment and tell us what other dishes we should look out for.
We both fell in love with Middle Eastern breakfasts during our visit to Egypt. Especially the ful medames.
It’s good isn’t it? Glad you enjoyed the breakfasts too.
I could eat homemade hummus and fresh feta cheese for every meal.
I have been and still not sick of them yet
I could eat that for every meal, every day.
We pretty much are in the ME!
This looks amazing!! I eat so much for color, and this one definitely passes the multi-color test, and anything with olives & olive oil are easy to love!
Olives and olive oil feature heavily in Jordanian cuisine- good for us!
Looks amazing! Going to try and reproduce the same meal here, in Glasgow
Good luck and enjoy!
I love to eat every meal every day. I like the colorful meals very much. But variation of meals is available by places.
Pingback: Jordan Highlights
This looks delicious! I’d be happy to have that as my breakfast. When I was in Hawaii last year, our hotel offered Japanese breakfast foods in the buffet, but I didn’t end up trying any – pickled vegetables just aren’t my thing in the morning.
Oooh, I loved pickles in Japan. I have an ability to eat anything for breakfast!
Nice breakfast! I would definitely have one as well. I’m a big lover of vegetables. Where’s the coffee?
I don’t drink coffee but Simon usually had some. The options in Jordan were usually limited to Nescafe or super strong thick Turkish coffee, but the Kempinski Hotel where this was taken had espresso and cappuccino which made Simon happy
I like this breakfast
This is such a mouth-watering post. Makes one’s day. Perhaps I should start writing about food too. Problem is I’m worth nothing as a cook, ha-ha. But you’ve given me something to think about…
You don’t need to be a good cook to write about food—just enjoy eating it
I’ve been in South America for a month now and am starting to get a little tired of the standard almuerzo of soup, chicken and rice (except for the juice that comes with… it is usually spectacular). I would kill for some hummus, pita bread and kalamata olives right about now. Thanks for the reminder of what I’ve been missing… I think.
I really missed food like this in South America too. It does get a little boring. Great juices though!