Where to Eat in Damascus — Restaurants, Souk Sweets & Courtyard Dining (2026)

Few cities reward an appetite like Damascus. Its food is deep rather than flashy — recipes carried down in families, a morning plate of foul and hummus, long mezze before the grill, and ice cream pounded by hand in the souk. Here's where to eat, what to try and when.

The food districts

• Bab Touma, Bab Sharqi & Al-Qaymariya — the heart of Old City dining: courtyard houses turned into restaurants and cafés, alive in the evening. Al-Qaymariya in particular is a lane of restaurants and night-time buzz.
• The Straight Street (Midhat Pasha) — the Roman axis through the Old City, lined with famous houses and restaurants.
• Souq Saruja — an old Ottoman quarter with simple, characterful eateries.
• Al-Muhajireen & the slopes of Qasioun — restaurants and cafés with a view over the city, for an evening out.
• Shaalan, Hamra & Abu Rummaneh — modern-centre cafés, shawarma and quick bites.

Souk sweets & ice cream

• The Al-Hamidiyah Souq ends at the Umayyad Mosque, and near its end is Bakdash — Arabic ice cream pounded by hand since 1885 and rolled in Aleppo pistachio. A must.
• Souq al-Buzuriyah — the spice market off Midhat Pasha: spices, nuts, tamarind and sweets; the scent alone is an experience.

Dishes to try

• Breakfast: foul, hummus and fatteh — specialist shops open only in the morning. The cheapest, best meal of your day.
• Mezze: hummus, mutabbal, fattoush, yalanji, raw and fried kibbeh, maqadem — before the grill.
• Mains: shish barak, stuffed vegetables (mahashi), grilled chicken, Damascene shawarma, and fatteh in its many forms.
• Sweets: shaabiyat, barazek and maamoul, ice cream, and knafeh in the morning.

Classic courtyard restaurants

Eat in a restored Damascene house with a fountain in the courtyard — names Damascenes know include Al-Khawali on the Straight Street, Beit Jabri (a 1737 house), Naranj, and the old popular Abu al-Ezz near the souk.

The historic cafés

• Al-Nawfara — right behind the Umayyad Mosque, the oldest café in Damascus, with the evening storyteller (hakawati).
• Al-Rawda — a city-centre café, a haunt of writers and intellectuals for decades.
• The cafés of Al-Qaymariya and Bab Touma, alive at night, and the terrace cafés of Qasioun over the city.

Practical tips

• Carry cash — many places don't take cards. See money in Syria.
• In Ramadan the Old City turns nocturnal: restaurants open after iftar and run past midnight.
• The Old City is walkable, but reaching it and getting back to your hotel after a late dinner is easiest with a driver.

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Read more: the Syrian food guide · Al-Hamidiyah souq · Damascus Old City tour · Damascus travel guide

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