By Taylor Luck
AMMAN - Over one dozen restaurants have been closed down this Ramadan with tighter restrictions being considered for next year, as authorities attempt to maintain a difficult balance between catering to foreigners and honouring the sanctity of the holy month.
According to the Jordan Restaurants Association (JRA), in addition to bars and nightclubs, some 15 restaurants have been shut down this Ramadan due to various violations or improper licensing.
Despite official restrictions over eateries operating prior to iftar, credited three-star tourist restaurants were allowed to continue operating as normal under a decision made by a committee consisting of the JRA, hotels association and the ministries of tourism, labour and interior.
The Interior Ministry, however, insists that the decision to permit certain accredited restaurants to maintain their operations during the holy month was intended to provide foreigners places to eat and drink, not to consume alcohol.
None have felt the confusion more than Madian Jazerah, whose restaurant and computer café in Jabal Amman was shut down earlier this month despite a permit to operate from the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (MoTA).
On September 10, the restaurant, a popular spot and a nightlife cornerstone for expatriates and area residents, was raided by the committee for selling alcoholic beverages on their outdoor terrace.
According to Jazerah, he was told by the concerned committee not to serve alcohol on the café’s outdoor terraces, which he insisted were not in plain sight.
Jazerah said that although he then stopped serving alcoholic beverages on the café’s terraces, three days later, Public Security Department (PSD) personnel told the restaurateur to shut down operations.
“We have not received a single document, except for the motion to close, and it does not even state a reason. We worked hard to earn the three-star tourist rating so we can maintain our business during the month, but it seems the classification is useless,” he said, adding that committee members levied several “baseless” charges ranging from “unclean kitchens” to allowing café patrons to kiss and engage in inappropriate physical intimacy to justify the closure.
He added that when the PSD instructed him to close down, he was informed that as it served alcohol the café was now considered as a bar, and therefore not covered by the licence.
According to the JRA, Books@Café is a registered three-star tourist restaurant.
“The rating system isn’t being honoured. We are a restaurant that also happens to serve alcohol, among other beverages. Now we’re being called a bar,” he said, noting that the café had no problems operating over the past few Ramadans, as the holy month fell during the wintertime, when the café’s terraces are closed.
“Now we can’t even access our bookstore, or even our computers. As of today I accept defeat,” he said, adding that he and his 50 employees are unsure of when or if the café will open again.
MoTA officials declined to comment on the subject.
JRA President and veteran restaurateur Zeid Goussous, a member of the aforementioned committee, said the confusion surrounding the status of restaurants’ operations during the holy month are due to the nature of the committee’s ad hoc status.
“We adjust the requirements and sensibilities for the industry each year,” Goussous told The Jordan Times yesterday, adding that the committee last year corrected violations by some fast-food restaurants serving food at their premises during daytime hours in Ramadan by encouraging them to put up curtains.
Despite restrictions, in the past, some nightclub owners rented out hotel restaurants for the entire month to continue their operations in an effort to get around the regulations, he said.
In order to close the loophole, the committee shut down 30-40 bars and nightclubs prior to the start of the holy month this year, allowing only tourist restaurants rated three stars and above to operate “business as usual”, meaning those that already had a licence to serve alcohol could continue to do so after iftar provided that patrons are not in the plain sight of passers-by.
With the barring of bars and nightclubs, an extra emphasis has been placed on monitoring the 50 some tourist restaurants rated three stars and above, Goussous said, noting that the increased scrutiny led to some being closed for rowdy patron behaviour, despite the licence.
“Unfortunately a lot of these places are frequented by a very young crowd who do not respect the sanctity of Ramadan and abuse the licence to consume alcoholic beverages,” he said, pointing out that many of the tourist restaurants that received permission to stay open during Ramadan chose not to operate during the day or to serve alcohol outdoors.
According to the JRA president, for next Ramadan, the committee may only allow a select number of restaurants in 5-star hotels and 4- and 5-star restaurants to serve alcohol during the holy month.
“This is not a question of being conservative or rejecting the tourism industry. It is a question of respecting the Kingdom’s values, particularly during the holy month,” he said.
Interior Ministry Spokesperson Ziyad Zu'bi told The Jordan Times that the ministry has been enforcing regulations “across the board”.
“The restrictions are clear that restaurants cannot serve food and drink before iftar. But we also must keep tourists in mind, which is why we account for the exemptions,” Zu'bi said yesterday, adding that the licences allow for the selling of food and drink, not specifically to sell alcohol.
Despite the obstacles, Jazerah expressed hope that he will be able to reopen soon.
“We may have made a mistake, and we are willing to correct that,” he said.
Goussous, meanwhile, believed that restaurants, accredited or not, will have to be more willing to accept restrictions to maintain business for one month out of the year.
“To be closed for one month is a lot worse than just not being allowed to serve alcohol,” he noted.
