Interview (in 2004) with Sami Abu-Dayyeh, owner and general manager of Ambassador Hotel since 1993 who grew up on the Mount of Olives. He began his career at Net Tourism, a company started by his father in the 1940's.

There is a large Bedouin tent on the grounds filled with pillows and colorful fabrics, where one can order a "nargeela" - an oriental tobacco pipe with a long flexible tube connected to a container where the smoke is cooled by passing through water.

The hotel's history:

The hotel was built by old Jerusalemites of the Arab Hotel Company just after the war. It was a Jerusalem landmark because it was one of the first four star hotels in the city. Between 1953 and 1967, King Hussein of Jordan used to come here. Also, the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization) started here. They had their first meetings here in 1966.

About the hotel's design:

It was built in two stages: the left side and the right side. When I took it over I improved on the interior design by changing the restaurants and lobby. It was redesigned by a local architect, Usama Sakakini, my nephew.

About the menu:

I change the menu every six to eight months, but the basic part stays the same. There is a daily lunchtime special (chef's choice) which is not on the menu. In the beginning I wanted one European and one Arabic restaurant, but in the end I combined them into one. Some of the Palestinian dishes we serve include munsuf (rice, meat and yogurt), makloubeh (meaning "upside down", with meat, cauliflower, eggplant and rice)

Customer's favorite foods:

Typical Arabic salads (such as hummous, baba ganoush, tabouli, Arabic salad, parsley salad with tahini) and mixed grill which is meats (fillet, lamb, chicken cutlets, minced meat with parsley) with tomato and onion grilled on charcoal.

 

Customer's favorite drinks:

Fresh squeezed orange juice and the Palestinian Taybeh beer. The most popular hot drinks are Turkish coffee and tea with mint, but there is a growing demand for cappuccino and espresso. We get our coffee from "Kit Kat" at Salah a-Din in East Jerusalem.

 

Owner's favorite food:

Boneless grilled chicken with lots of garlic and lemon

 

About the clientele:

About seventy percent are locals, and the other thirty percent are ex-patriots mostly from Europe and North America. The people in the restaurants are different from the people in the tent. For meetings people sit in the restaurant. For relaxation people sit outside.

 

About the Bedouin tent:

There is a summer tent  exposed to the elements, and a winter tent, which is insulated. The summer tent was built in 2001, and the winter tent in October 2003. All the fabrics were bought in Amman, Jordan. The carpets are Iraqi. The nargeelas were purchased in Jerusalem and they are from Syria. No one comes into the tent without asking for a nargeela.

 

PAbout the tobacco:

We use sweet tobacco with flavors like apple and anise imported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates and Egypt. We also have regular tobacco  not sweet, that is grown locally near Jenin.