Jordan's king dines at Richardson restaurant during World Cup visit

King Abdullah II’s surprise dinner at Khashoka Middle Eastern Cuisine turned a Richardson dining room into a brief World Cup stopover, with the Jordanian monarch sitting beside local customers while staff kept service moving.

The stop came on June 28, one day after Jordan lost 3-1 to Argentina at Dallas Stadium, also known as AT&T Stadium, in Arlington. That match ended Jordan’s first-ever FIFA World Cup appearance, a debut run that had followed qualification in June 2025 after a 3-0 win over Oman.

Khashoka, which opened in Richardson in 2025 and is the first U.S. location of the Jordanian franchise, was built around a visibly Jordanian identity. Owner Muhammad Albakri says more than 90% of the restaurant’s ingredients are imported directly from Jordan, and the décor also draws from the country. The restaurant’s name refers to a spoon that feeds everyone. It serves mansaf, falafel and other Jordanian staples to North Texas diners.

Albakri said King Abdullah dined with family members, staff, guards and local customers, and asked that the restaurant continue serving the other guests while he was there. The meal included galayet bandora, a traditional Levantine-Jordanian tomato stew that is one of the restaurant’s signature dishes. The dining room had to keep moving, security had to fit around seated customers, and the same dishes served to the king also had to go out to everyone else in the room.

Arlington hosted a three-day Jordanian cultural festival from June 25 through June 27, with food trucks, music and a kids’ zone, and a separate Jordanian event took place at Levitt Pavilion. The day before the dinner, King Abdullah met with Arlington Mayor Jim Ross.