Jordan restaurant offers mansaf-lovers an opportunity for a nap after meals

With the Jordanian iconic dish “mansaf” believed to cause severe sleepiness, a restaurant in Amman is offering its customers a napping opportunity to overcome their post-meal tiredness.

Mansaf is thought to cause drowsiness due to its high-fat ingredients, especially during hot weather, prompting lovers of Jordan’s celebrated national dish to avoid restaurants and only eat it at home where they can have a quick nap.

However, a restaurant in Jordan’s capital Amman has solved the post-meal sleepiness of mansaf by providing lovers of the traditional Levantine dish with beds for a quick nap.

Named “Moab” after the ancient Kingdom of Moab in Jordan’s southern city of Karak, the restaurant only serves mansaf.

“The idea to put beds in the restaurant started as a joke and decoration to reflect the sleepiness mansaf-eaters’ experience after they have the high-fat meal,” Musab Mubeideen, son of the restaurant’s owner, told Arab News.

He said that mansaf “is a fat-laden meal cooked with lamb meat, rice and jameed (ghee), and these ingredients put together are just a recipe for sleepiness and total tiredness.”

Mubaideen is from the city of Karak, 90 km south of Amman, which is famous for its high-quality “jameed.”

“Why don’t you put beds in the restaurant,” said a customer, who was rubbing his eyes and was sleepy after eating mansaf. Then other customers told us the same,” Mubaideen said.

“So we brought beds and set them up in a separate section in the restaurant. Customers now really use them for a quick nap after they have mansaf,” he said.

The “bedroom,” he said, has an air-conditioner and is also quiet, offering mansaf-lovers a good napping opportunity. “They also can have traditional Jordanian coffee there.”

Mansaf, meaning a large platter, is a traditional Levantine dish made of lamb cooked in a sauce of fermented dried yogurt and served with rice or bulgar. The Jordanian version of mansaf uses bread on the bottom of the plate.