Why Aleppo Is One of the Great Food Cities of the Middle East

Ask a Syrian which city cooks best and the answer will very likely be Aleppo — even from someone from Damascus. For centuries Aleppo stood where the trade routes of East and West met; on its tables came together the spices of India, the fruit of Anatolia and the meat of the steppe, and out of that grew a kitchen that is spicy, sour and sweet all at once.

The city of kibbeh

Aleppo is said to have dozens of kinds of kibbeh. The base is fine bulgur and pounded meat; then the shapes, fillings and methods change:

• Fried kibbeh, stuffed with meat and pine nuts.
• Kibbeh bil-sayniyeh, baked in layers in a tray.
• Kibbeh nayyeh, raw, with olive oil and pepper.
• Kibbeh safarjaliyeh, cooked with quince in autumn.
• Kibbeh labaniyeh, in yoghurt cooked with garlic and mint.

Cherry kebab

The dish that surprises visitors most: small balls of grilled meat simmered in a sauce of sour cherries, which ripen in June, served on bread that soaks up the sauce. Sweet, sour and smoky in one bite.

Muhammara and Aleppo pepper

Muhammara is a meze of roasted red pepper, walnuts, pomegranate molasses and cumin. Aleppo pepper is the dried red pepper flake, sweet and gently hot, sprinkled on everything. You will find it in the souqs with sumac and cumin — see our souq shopping guide.

Yabraq and stuffed vegetables

Yabraq is vine leaves rolled around rice and meat and cooked over lamb with lemon or pomegranate molasses. Stuffed courgettes, aubergines and peppers are cooked in tomato or yoghurt sauce. Read about Syrian home cooking.

Sweets and pistachios

Aleppo is home to the famous Aleppo pistachio, whose green kernels crown baklava, ma'moul and ice cream. Try swar el-sit and mabrumeh in the old sweet shops.