Clotted cream wrapped in thin pastry on an underpinning of crushed pistachios tops off an already formidable collection of delicacies at a Syrian sweet shop in Amman.
Warbat Ramadan — twists of Ramadan — as the pastry is called, has been introduced for the holy month at the Sit Al Sham (Damascus Lady) store in the Jasmin-Badr district.
The neighbourhood occupies a hilly area separating the relatively affluent western Amman from the mostly disadvantaged east.
It has become the de facto Syrian quarter in the capital over the past decade as Syrians have fled the country in the aftermath of the 2011 revolt against five decades of Assad family rule.
Amman, a relatively new capital, lacks the hustle and bustle of pre-revolt Syrian cities and their long tradition of business.
But Syrian refugees who have found employment mainly in food businesses in Jasmin-Badr, or those few who have managed to open their own, have injected variety — and some would say higher quality food — to the dusty, previously staid residential area.
A kilo of the clotted cream sweet sells for $17 at Sit Al Sham while pistachio baklava, the most costly item on the menu, is $35 a kilo.
In between are a large variety of sweets made from ingredients that range from semolina, almonds and walnuts to rose petals and cheese.
“In these economic conditions, $25 is a hefty sum. But the quality is high”, says Youssef, a manager at the shop.
Ramadan is traditionally a crucial month for business, says Youssef, who is from the city of Irbid near the border with Syria. Other workers at the shop are Syrian.
Many Jordanians are familiar with many of the sweets at Sit Al Sham because Syrian sweets were among the most in-demand items that traders and Jordanian visitors to Syria used to bring back home before 2011.
But another Syrian business in Jasmin-Badr, which opened in the last year, introduced a genre of Syrian specialities mostly unknown in the kingdom.
Its showpiece is Kibbeh, a mince of bulgur, onion, lamb and sun-dried chilli paste, oval-shaped and filled with pine nuts, along with more meat and onions.
The restaurant’s name is Fukhar and its owners are from Aleppo, the culinary capital of the Middle East. The ancient city, significantly destroyed by the regime and Russian bombing between 2015-2016, is known for 40 kinds of Kibbeh.
One of the more subtle variations available on Fukhar’s Wednesday menu is quince Kibbeh, a sweet and sour plate that dates back to a 1,000-year old recipe influenced by trade between Aleppo and China.
This Kibbeh swims in a sauce of quince, pomegranate molasses, garlic and mint, as opposed, for example, to sumac Kibbeh, which has a sauce primarily composed of the spice sumac and tomato.
Fukhar uses premium baladi (local) meat, which is raised by shepherds, and premium ghee, or clarified butter.
But for those on a budget the restaurant can prepare on request Kibbeh using imported Romanian meat.
“It is half the price,” says Mustafa, a young Syrian from Aleppo who works at Fukhar. “Some customers cannot pay much.”
While the Syrian diaspora chefs have enriched the cuisine available in Jordan, a host of Syrian dishes can only be sampled at Syrian homes, where the Ramadan iftar provides a showcase of an ancient culinary tradition.
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FA Cup fifth round draw
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Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
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Look north
BBC business reporters, like a new raft of government officials, are being removed from the national and international hub of London and surely the quality of their work must suffer.
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Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
AT%20A%20GLANCE
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How Tesla’s price correction has hit fund managers
Investing in disruptive technology can be a bumpy ride, as investors in Tesla were reminded on Friday, when its stock dropped 7.5 per cent in early trading to $575.
It recovered slightly but still ended the week 15 per cent lower and is down a third from its all-time high of $883 on January 26. The electric car maker’s market cap fell from $834 billion to about $567bn in that time, a drop of an astonishing $267bn, and a blow for those who bought Tesla stock late.
The collapse also hit fund managers that have gone big on Tesla, notably the UK-based Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust and Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF.
Tesla is the top holding in both funds, making up a hefty 10 per cent of total assets under management. Both funds have fallen by a quarter in the past month.
Matt Weller, global head of market research at GAIN Capital, recently warned that Tesla founder Elon Musk had “flown a bit too close to the sun”, after getting carried away by investing $1.5bn of the company’s money in Bitcoin.
He also predicted Tesla’s sales could struggle as traditional auto manufacturers ramp up electric car production, destroying its first mover advantage.
AJ Bell’s Russ Mould warns that many investors buy tech stocks when earnings forecasts are rising, almost regardless of valuation. “When it works, it really works. But when it goes wrong, elevated valuations leave little or no downside protection.”
A Tesla correction was probably baked in after last year’s astonishing share price surge, and many investors will see this as an opportunity to load up at a reduced price.
Dramatic swings are to be expected when investing in disruptive technology, as Ms Wood at ARK makes clear.
Every week, she sends subscribers a commentary listing “stocks in our strategies that have appreciated or dropped more than 15 per cent in a day” during the week.
Her latest commentary, issued on Friday, showed seven stocks displaying extreme volatility, led by ExOne, a leader in binder jetting 3D printing technology. It jumped 24 per cent, boosted by news that fellow 3D printing specialist Stratasys had beaten fourth-quarter revenues and earnings expectations, seen as good news for the sector.
By contrast, computational drug and material discovery company Schrödinger fell 27 per cent after quarterly and full-year results showed its core software sales and drug development pipeline slowing.
Despite that setback, Ms Wood remains positive, arguing that its “medicinal chemistry platform offers a powerful and unique view into chemical space”.
In her weekly video view, she remains bullish, stating that: “We are on the right side of change, and disruptive innovation is going to deliver exponential growth trajectories for many of our companies, in fact, most of them.”
Ms Wood remains committed to Tesla as she expects global electric car sales to compound at an average annual rate of 82 per cent for the next five years.
She said these are so “enormous that some people find them unbelievable”, and argues that this scepticism, especially among institutional investors, “festers” and creates a great opportunity for ARK.
Only you can decide whether you are a believer or a festering sceptic. If it’s the former, then buckle up.
BIO
Favourite holiday destination: Turkey - because the government look after animals so well there.
Favourite film: I love scary movies. I have so many favourites but The Ring stands out.
Favourite book: The Lord of the Rings. I didn’t like the movies but I loved the books.
Favourite colour: Black.
Favourite music: Hard rock. I actually also perform as a rock DJ in Dubai.
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The specs
The specs: 2019 Audi Q8
Price, base: Dh315,000
Engine: 3.0-litre turbocharged V6
Gearbox: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 340hp @ 3,500rpm
Torque: 500Nm @ 2,250rpm
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Results
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Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
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The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
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The%20specs
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Scorecard
Scotland 220
K Coetzer 95, J Siddique 3-49, R Mustafa 3-35
UAE 224-3 in 43,5 overs
C Suri 67, B Hameed 63 not out
GAC GS8 Specs
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Transmission: 8-speed auto
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On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
