A coffee house, a workshop space, a relaxing haven, a culinary adventure, Maisa Space is above all a labor of love. We take a moment to savor this unique farm-to-table concept in Amman, with its founder Maisa Miqdadi.
In the traditional Jabal Amman neighborhood, on the bustling colorful Rainbow street, step in this cozy space to indulge in local delicacies. Baked sourdough bread, zaatar, fresh cream and ashta, peculiar tea mixes, the ingredients here are all homemade in the kitchen or sourced from local farmers. Maisa Space is about wholesome, delicious, simple food, ‘it is about achieving my vision of having a community of people who care about real food, back to basic techniques, farm to table awareness by eating local’ Maisa tells us. In this space, you can enjoy a meal any time of day; luscious breakfast with eggs, labneh Jarashieh, seasonal jams or homemade granola, lunch mezzes such as yalanji (vegetarian stuffed grape leaves), fattet jameed (grilled bread dipped in assorted ingredients, jameed is dry yoghurt) or a mubaathraa sandwich with eggs, meat and seasonal greens. You can also drop by for tea to taste Maisa’s zhourat mix featuring gardenia and Damascus roses from her garden, with a bite from one of her specialty cakes such the vegan majdoul dates based tarts filled with cashew cream and scrumptious figs. The recipes are prepared with wholesome local ingredients and basic techniques with Maisa’s personal touch for mouthwatering presentations, ‘I am not inventing but I care a lot about raw material and sourcing.’ The space is about preserving heritage and traditions and the entrepreneur has four values that guide everything she does. The first is sustainability, applying herself to preserving the beautiful land and nurture its resources, the second, preparing tasteful food that we will enjoy eating. Also important to her is promoting cultural values via workshops offered at the space that revisit traditional crafts, rediscovering ingredients and working with local artisans who handmade the ceramic tableware, engraving it with details from local flora such as the maramiyye (sage) leaves. Finally, she concocts healthy dishes, made only of nutritious foods. The menu rotates with the seasons and ingredients of the moment ‘we are celebrating autumn now, introducing pumpkins, pomegranate, apples, olive oil.’
Maisa Space opened just three months ago and has been buzzing since. A haven for delicious food, it has been conceived like a home, with cozy couches, light blue green chairs around soft toned wood tables, shelves stacked with collectibles from all over the world that Maisa has been gathering through her travels for the past ten years, and a luminous outdoors area with ornate floor tiles in creamy tones and the smell of jasmine. A Civil Engineer with a fondness for interior design, Maisa imagined the space herself, ‘most of the pieces are handcrafted telling stories and holding memories.’ She wanted to create a spot where people meet, chat, savor and rediscover their heritage. Workshops are hosted regularly at Maisa Space, an invitation to gather around for olive oil tasting or to learn how to make Maamoul. Maissa has been a passionate foodie for years, and an ambassador of local tradition and heritage through her personal work and online Instagram page which boasts more than ninety thousand followers. She started a cooking school in Dubai in 2013 teaching expats Levantine cuisine, and the idea for Maisa Space began to emerge in her mind. In 2018 she thought about creating cooking experiences in the middle of an organic farm in in the United Arab Emirates and pioneered the farm-to-table movement in the country. Her initiative was featured in Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper and many others magazines. She moved back to Jordan in 2020 and immediately started looking for a place to rent but, it was during the covid crisis, and she had to pause for a bit. ’Then smoothly things moved on with the support of family and friends here. We are now the first farm-to-table kitchen place in Amman. I grew up in a family of pharmacists (my dad, my mother and my brother) who care a lot about ingredients and healthy lifestyle, and learned to appreciate our Palestinian roots culture.’ A food experience dreamed years ago, Maisa Space is now a reality where we can taste and enjoy the beauty of simplicity.
