Full Moon Café, a taste of something sweet and Korean

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(Photo: Hala Hawatmeh)
AMMAN — While Chinese and Japanese food have long been represented in the Jordanian market, the same cannot be said for other Asian cuisines.

This has changed in recent years, as more and more locals have been itching for something new and different. Following international trends, everything Korean is gaining in popularity, which means the local market is perfectly primed for new Korean eateries.اضافة اعلان

Full Moon Café, located in Sweifieh, originally specialized in bubble tea, today it markets itself as a Korean and Asian café specializing in “Coffee Bingsu and more”. Coffee Bingsu is a Korean shaved ice desert. Bubble tea is a Taiwanese recipe made by blending a tea base with milk, fruit, and fruit juices, then adding the signature tapioca pearls, the “bubble” part.


(Photo: Hala Hawatmeh)

We opted to sample as much of what the menu had to offer as possible. For our beverages, we ordered a strawberry smoothie, a brown sugar bubble tea, Thai bubble tea, and strawberry milk tea.

For dessert we ordered a Korean Waffle, Lotus caramel Toast, and Strawberry Bingsu. 

The service time was extremely long. We stayed at the restaurant for several hours despite only ordering three dishes, but that could be explained by the fact that the restaurant was rather understaffed, which wasn’t surprising considering we were the only patrons seated at 1:30pm. 

The first to arrive were the beverages. After sampling all of the drinks, the general consensus was that the Strawberry smoothie was the our favorite. It was sweet and refreshing, but uniquely so, making it unlike a traditional strawberry smoothie. 

The brown sugar bubble tea came in a close second, it achieved the perfect balance of refreshing and sweet. The Thai tea and strawberry milk tea were also appealing in taste, but would probably be better suited for those more accustomed to drinking bubble tea. 

While the drinks were overall satiating, the biggest criticism would be regarding the bubbles in the bubble tea.

The texture of the tapioca pearls was widely inconsistent from one drink to the other. Some were more bouncy and chewy, while others were more stiff. Which texture you find more appealing is entirely up to individual preference, but greater consistency across all drinks would be preferable. 

After a bit of a wait, our first dessert arrived, the Korean waffle. This waffle came slathered in Nutella sauce and topped with vanilla ice cream and strawberries. 


(Photo: Hala Hawatmeh)

The taste of the waffle was interesting and it took our palettes a while to become accustomed to it. As far as I know, many East Asian deserts use more egg yolk than we are used to in our part of the world, which made it hard to wrap my head around the specific texture of this waffle, compared to others I tried. 

The vanilla ice cream also had an unusual texture, it was more stretchy and chewy than what I am accustomed to with a regular plain vanilla ice cream. Overall I would recommend it to those who know what to expect from this type of dessert, and not to those who expect a traditional western style waffle. 

The second dessert to arrive was the Lotus Caramel Toast. This was by far the most disappointing part of our meal. The first bites were quite promising. The crust was perfectly saturated with lotus crumbs and caramel drizzle, which we eagerly devoured. 

But digging in to it a centimeter below the surface revealed a disappointing mass of dry, plain bread. It felt less like eating a dessert and more like eating bread with dessert on the side. The portion was also incredibly large, meaning that the majority of the dish was plain bread. Overall I would not recommend this dessert unless you happen to have a strong craving for a plain loaf of bread. 


(Photo: Hala Hawatmeh)

The final dish was by far the highlight of our dining experience, the strawberry Bingsu. This desert was wonderfully refreshing, sweet, and light.

This shaved ice dessert was absolutely delicious, making it clear to see why Bingsu is one of the most widely sought-after Korean desserts. This is by far the dish I would recommend to anyone looking to try something new. 



(Photo: Hala Hawatmeh)

My final verdict on Full Moon Cafe is that I would highly recommend trying out their wide selection of beverages, as that is their bread and butter. I would also recommend giving their Bingsu a try, especially the strawberry flavor. Although other aspects of their menu could do with some improvement, I look forward to coming again and sampling whatever new desserts they have to offer.


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