Aqaba · Food
Checked 31 August 2026 · 3 official sources
EAT LIKE A LOCAL
Aqaba eats fish, and it eats it plainly — grilled, or buried in spiced rice — with the cheap grills and falafel of the downtown lanes underneath all of it.
The fish market and the seafront restaurants
Fish is landed and sold in town, and several seafront places will cook what you choose by the kilo. Ask the price per kilo before anything is weighed, and check whether the quoted figure includes the cooking, the salads and the bread — this is where visitors' bills go wrong.
📍 Map · $$
Ali Baba Restaurant, Raghadan Street
A long-running downtown restaurant on the corner of Raghadan Street, doing grilled fish, mezze and Jordanian grills at pavement tables in the middle of town. Not cheap by Aqaba standards, reliably busy, and one of the few places open continuously through the afternoon.
📍 Map · $$
The downtown lanes off Al-Rashid Street
Behind the seafront: falafel counters, hummus and fuul at breakfast, shawarma and charcoal grills in the evening, all at a fraction of corniche prices. This is where the port and the town eat, and a full plate lunch runs to a couple of dinars.
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Sayadieh
The Red Sea coast dish worth ordering by name: white fish cooked with rice browned in caramelised onion, with cumin and a tahini or lemon sauce alongside. It is a slow dish, so some kitchens want notice, and it is a meal for two or more rather than a single portion.
📍 Map · $$