A Guide to Syrian Meze: What to Order, How to Eat, and Who Pays

A real Syrian dinner does not start with a main course. It starts with a table filling up with dozens of small plates — meze — that everyone eats from slowly, talking and laughing, before the grills arrive. This is your guide to the meze table.

Cold meze

• Hummus and mutabbal: aubergine charred over the flame with tahini, lemon and garlic. (Some regions also make baba ghanouj with vegetables and no tahini.)
• Muhammara: red pepper, walnut and pomegranate molasses — an Aleppo speciality.
• Tabbouleh: parsley chopped very fine with bulgur, tomato, mint and lemon. The parsley is the star, not the bulgur.
• Fattoush: vegetable salad with toasted bread, sumac and pomegranate molasses.
• Shanklish: aged cheese in thyme with tomato, onion and olive oil.
• Kibbeh nayyeh: fresh raw meat pounded with bulgur, with olive oil and mint.
• Cold vine leaves in olive oil.

Hot meze

• Fried kibbeh, sambousek and spinach fatayer.
• Batata harra: spicy potatoes with coriander and garlic.
• Chicken wings, sujuk and little sausages.
• Grilled halloumi.

Then the grills

Kebab, shish tawook and lamb pieces, with flat bread that soaks up the juices under the kebab. In Aleppo, don't miss cherry kebab.

The battle of the bill

Go out with Syrians and you will see a scene that plays out every day: at the end of dinner someone slips away "to wash their hands" and pays in secret, or two people grab the bill and argue loudly: "By God, you are not paying!" It is not a real quarrel but a ritual of generosity. If you are the guest, you probably won't pay however hard you try — thank them warmly and invite them next time. More in Syrian hospitality and etiquette.

Where to try meze

Courtyard restaurants in Old Damascus, coastal restaurants that serve meze with fish, and mountain-resort restaurants. Reserve for Thursday and Friday evenings.