In the heart of Madaba, Jordan, something quietly revolutionary is growing. Carob House is not just a restaurant, it is a grassroots movement that focuses on how food is produced, consumed, and recycled. Its farm-to-table concept is front and centre, and it is getting the attention of those who are lucky enough to dine there!
Founder of Carob Farms and Carob House, Rakan Mehyar took an interest in local farming, permaculture, and how soil degradation was playing a huge part on the difficulties that farmers in Jordan were facing. Recognizing that the soil was the key to farming, he invested in learning all about soil regeneration and launched Carob Farms. Carob Farms and Carob House celebrate and educate a movement to heal the soil, celebrate local flavors, support small farmers, and reconnect people with the roots of their food.
Guests can now tour the farm with Rakan and then enjoy a meal at Carob House, right in the heart of Madaba. This renovated residence offers farm-to-table meals, as well as serving as a cultural centre in the ancient city. Visitors can take part in cooking classes and get hands-on with the local farm-to-table movement, gaining a deeper understanding of the food on their plate.
Carob House
At the heart of Carob House is Chef Sarah, a self-taught Jordanian chef who discovered her passion for cooking over a decade ago. Starting as a trainee at the Marriott, she worked her way up to become head chef at Carob House. Drawing on the culinary knowledge passed down through the women in her own family, along with inspiration from diverse cuisines she encountered along the way, Chef Sarah reimagines Jordanian classics with creativity and flair. Her menu features dishes like pumpkin kubbeh, eggplant fatteh, walnut-dill labneh, and pumpkin mutabal, all artfully presented and rooted in the traditions of the region.
Guests enjoy these meals inside a lovingly restored 1930s residence in Madaba, where the setting feels as thoughtfully crafted as the food itself. Committed to sustainability, the restaurant operates as a zero-waste kitchen, with all food scraps (and even placemats) returned to the farm as compost.
Location: on Google Maps here
Full menu: here
Cooking Class info: here
Carob Farms Experience
From the outside, Carob Farms might look like any other patch of land in Madaba. But step inside and you’ll see a quiet transformation taking root. New trees are being planted to anchor the soil, slow erosion, and restore nutrients to the earth. Chickens are seen happily pecking at kitchen scraps from Carob House. Their manure is then used to enrich the farm’s crops. In the greenhouse, delicate trays of microgreens thrive, destined to appear on diners’ plates at Carob Farms.
Rakan’s vision is beginning to ripple through the community. With patience and passion, he shares his knowledge with small farmers, demonstrating how healthy soil and planting trees can be a part of the solution to Jordan’s ongoing water challenges. He also urges locals to take a closer look at how food waste is handled and how much potential it holds when used wisely, rather than being discarded.
Carob Farms and Carob House are located in Madaba, which is less than an hour from Amman (on the way to Petra). They offer a hands-on way to connect with locals who are part of the global sustainability movement. Every visit helps advance Rakan’s vision, inspiring more restaurants to embrace zero-waste practices and inviting diners to think deeply about where their food comes from.
Lindsay Nieminen hails from Vancouver, Canada and shares her love of travel on this website. She is passionate about showing others that they should not put off traveling the world just because they have children or are single parents. She aims to encourage them to seek out adventure, whether it is at home or abroad by providing information on how just about everywhere can be a destination to explore as a family.