The Petra Kitchen enriches Petra visitor’s experiences by offering nightly cooking classes and dinners, where guests share authentic local cuisine in a family atmosphere. Visitors work alongside local chefs and local women to prepare dishes made from local products found on a typical Jordanian family’s menu. By sharing recipes for all the prepared dishes, we encourage our guests to return home and share the tastes of Jordan with their own friends and families. Guests who join us for a multi-night cuisine course will share in harvesting and preparation with the chef to learn about local markets and suppliers.
The Made in Jordan Gallery & Giftshop showcases high-quality hand-crafts produced in Jordan, using local materials and made by Jordanian craftsmen and women. We encourage local artisans to design and produce top-quality and innovative products inspired by traditional Jordanian designs and history. We price our products to ensure a fair return to the local artisans by establishing a fixed-price policy which does not unfairly distort the product’s value for either party. Our suppliers’ business practices are frequently reviewed to ensure fair practices and work conditions. Through this, we’re helping our suppliers develop products which promote an understanding of Jordanian culture and heritage.
Our Suppliers
Both the Petra Kitchen and the Made in Jordan Gallery take pride in offering an authentic Jordanian product. Our vegetables, meats, and spices are locally produced and purchased directly from the growers or from the local fruit and vegetable market. Participants in our 5-night cooking courses will make several shopping trips to the market with our chefs. Chicken and meat are purchased from verified local butchers and resellers who source local product.
Our olive oil is cold-pressed from Jordanian olive orchards around Mafraq and Ajlun, in northern Jordan. Our herbs and spices are locally grown, including the mint, parsley, and thyme you have used. For millennia, Petra has been at the heart of the world’s spice trade, and the far-flung origins of many of our spices reflect a local sophistication with exotic imported seasonings such as cardamom, cinnamon, and nutmeg. We are proud to offer Zumot’s fine organic Jordanian varietal wines, grown in the Zumot family vineyards around Mafraq and Jerash. Even our furnishings—the tables you cook and eat on, the aprons and dishes—are all local products, manufactured especially for the Petra Kitchen in local carpentry shops and cooperatives such as the Jordan River Foundation and the Petra Pottery project in nearby Taybet. The same care to support and promote local suppliers is evident in the made in Jordan gallery/gift shop upstairs, which we hope you will visit.
Every gift item for sale in our shop is an authentic Jordanian product. From the wonderful Dead Sea amenities of Trinite (Amman) to the high-quality embroidered fashions of Raghed Hatahet(Amman), from the Nabatean-inspired craft items produced by the Petra Pottery workshop (Taybet) and the Nabatean Womens’ Cooperative Society (Petra) silver jewelry to the handmade paper products from the Iraq al Amir Womens’ Cooperative Society (Wadi Seer) and the folkloric baby quilts from the Ghor Safi Womens’ Cooperative Society (Jordan Valley), we have brought the very best of Jordan’s artisanal products together in one shop to offer you genuine “made in Jordan” mementos from your visit. Please ask our staff for more information about where and how your food and gift items were made….we’re proud of our local suppliers!
Petra Kitchen Terrace
The Petra Kitchen Terrace, just a short walk from the Petra Visitors' Center, is the perfect place to relax and unwind after a busy day of sightseeing. Order from our terrace menu of drinks and snacks, enjoy the free WiFi connection we offer to our customers, and perhaps try the "sheesha" (aka argeelah, water pipe, and several other names). If you've booked a cuisine course at the Petra Kitchen, come early and have a delicious glass of local wine before starting your culinary adventure. If you aren't in the mood to cook, just enjoy the ambiance of our terrace, which is popular with locals and visitors alike.
The Petra Kitchen Terrace is open 9 AM - 11 PM daily
