Large numbers of Armenians have lived in Syria for over a century, and their cuisine is famous. At Ararat restaurant, set in an early 18th-century Damascene house with an enclosed courtyard, you can try classic Armenian dishes like chicken manti mini-dumplings served with yogurt and nuts, or some pastirma air-dried cured beef, or the lasagna-like subereck. Syrian dishes like smokey freekeh durum grains with slow-cooked lamb shanks are also delectable. Find Ararat near the Bab al-Saghir city gate in the south of the old town.