During my recent trip to Rojava our dining options were largely defined by what I would call street food. This though was far from a chore and we indeed got some treats as there is a street food Qamishi scene.
In case you have not been following Qamishi is the capital of Rojava – which quite literally means western Kurdistan. This means that not only is it the cultural hub for Kurds in Syria, but also the political centre of The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES).
We will leave the political lesson for now, with more information available on the following link.
Street Food Qamishi – Breakfast
Due to time constraints we were limited to just one main breakfast in Qamishi, but it was to be an absolute revelation. As with most of the street food Qamishi scene it took place in the main market and was supposedly a Rojavan classic.
It consisted of what they called “honey and cheese” although the cheese was more a soft “Philadelphia” style sweet dairy product than actual cheese. This was of course served with Syrian bread and the aforementioned honey. This was not only cheap and delicious, but also came with variants such as having banana instead of the cheese.
We went to the place recommended by your hosts and quite simply a real must try food from Rojova.
Street food Qanishi – lunch
In many respects breakfasts and lunches, as well as lunches and diners are often interchangeable because of the weather and doing things later. In this respects there are lots of street food Qamishi restaurants serving burgers, shawarma and the like. These can of course also be had at dinner.
The market is also home to lots of other snacks like pastries, veg wrapped in wraps, fried breads and really great Arab/Syrian style pizzas.One could also snack on other classics at the market such as olives – Martini anyway?
Our personal best lunch was at the high end Al Burj, which is not exactly Qamishi street food.
Oh and of course there is falafel, there is always always falafel…
Street Food Qamishi – What to haver for dinner?
This brings us to the former point, with dinner largely being dominated by the Qamishi fast food scene. This has offerings of rotisserie chicken, shawarma and falafel – did we mention that when it comes to Qamishi street food there is always falafel.
On our first night though we were given a real treat when we suggested shawarma. Our guide rightly stated that if you want shawarma should we take a bit of a walk and go for the best shawarma in Qamishi? Why of course we should!
This took us to Shawarma and Nos restaurant, which looked like a modern day franchise where for the most part we all had beef wraps. This was served outside as the management even took pictures of the strange foreigners visiting Rojava. Despite my media blackout this was immediately posted online by them.
This was also conveniently next to the Al Burj and indeed the nightlife of this very interesting city. Alas with just one night here I was not able to truly indulge in the street food Qamishi scene, which was a shame as there seemed to be a lot of other stuff.
As with most (hot) Middle-Eastern cities it is at night when things come alive and my main street food Qamishi regret now is that I was not able to indulge in the ice-creams, sorbets and huge array of candies offered with the capital.
Still, there is always, always next time, even for Qamishi and Rojava.