At first glance, Bedouin Tent (405 Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11217) looks like any other Middle Eastern restaurant tucked into a corner of Brooklyn, but if you look a little closer at the menu you will realize that it also has an assortment of Jordanian specialties, marked as “Bedouin.” The inside of Bedouin Tent is reflective of its name, and is brightly decorated with orange textiles. There is also a pleasant outdoor area, which we found slightly too cold to utilize, though others braved the chill. Glass lanterns leant a nice ambiance, though you can see it was still a bit dark.
Bedouin Tent serves Jordan’s national dish, chicken ouzi, on Friday nights and on weekends (Ouzi is a dish composed of meat in phyllo dough served with yogurt sauce over rice – here is a recipe). One of the other popular Jordanian dishes is the Pitza, which is a lovechild of pita and pizza, a flatbread baked with with a variety of savory toppings. We ordered the ground lamb merguez sausage version ($7.50), which was the most traditional among the options (including spinach, peppers and mushrooms). The pitza was big enough for 3 to share, along with salads and other entrees, and was brimming with tasty, heavily-spiced ground merguez sausages and za’atar spices. For our other entree, we ordered the roast lamb with onions, tomatoes and lemon-mint dressing with a side of hummus ($12.00).
The salad plate sampler was also excellent and included five varieties of salad (hummus, baba ghanouj, chickpeas, stuffed grape leaves, lentils), for only $10. The salads also came with a giant helping of hot, fluffy Jordanian flatbread. There are also some interesting Jordanian salads only available on Fridays and weekends, including the labneh yogurt salad and potatoes dressed in parsley and olive oil. You can also order falafel per piece if you are looking for an additional taste of something different, as we did at the suggestion of the friendly staff.
Dishes came out in no particular order – so it is good to keep that in mind – fortunately we were all sharing everything so it worked out. The two entrees and the salads were more than enough for three people, and everything was extremely tasty and well-spiced. It was nice to try some new dishes, and get Middle Eastern classics with a Jordanian twist. We had a leisurely dinner, sipping on mint tea and munching until it was closing time. We hope to come back on a Friday to taste the chicken ouzi for the complete Jordanian experience.
Eating The World 