Dining: Mansouriya Palace Hotel
Beneath a secretive Aleppo hotel is one of the city’s best restaurants, and local truffles are the star attraction finds Robina Dam
When the Gastronomic Society of Lebanon met for lunch a few weeks ago in Syria, they had the pick of the crop, as it were. But instead of a glitzy restaurant in Damascus or a star-studded eatery in the likes of the Four Seasons hotel, they took over a private dining room housed in a 17th-century basement in Aleppo. For the Mansouriya Palace Hotel may be a boutique hotel that is a well-kept secret, but its culinary reputation has clearly been spreading not only throughout the country but also the Middle East.
How come? The Gastronomy Club of Syria made the recommendation to their Lebanese counterpart as they see the Mansouriya’s menu as championing traditional home cooking. “Our chef Ahmed Kilo may be very young but some of his recipes are very old,” the hotel’s proprietor tells me. “He’s been properly trained by the most important person possible…” I await the name of an eminent Syrian chef, “…his mother!”
And mama obviously taught young Ahmed how to perfect rose jam, one of the Mansouriya’s specialities, as well as Syrian truffles, also known as desert truffles (in season between February and March), served with rice. Yet it’s the simple, peasant dishes which hit the spot – such as ful, the broad bean stew, which is served with a separate garnish of minced onion, parsley, olives, tomatoes and lashings of olive oil. All this, and an atmospheric arched cave that looks like it should have been used in The Da Vinci Code, makes it highly romantic.
The restaurant isn’t publicised, to keep it largely the reserve of the hotel’s residents (a maximum of 18 in high season) but corporates can now book it for functions.
Mansouriya Palace, Babb Qinnesrin, Aleppo, +963 (21) 3632000; www.mansouriya.com
