Restaurants

Jerusalem has a huge selection of restaurants, dairy bars, lunch counters, snack shops, delicatessens, and cafes.

In the Old City and East Jerusalem, you'll find mostly Middle Eastern cuisine. Pork is prohibited to Muslims, as it is to Jews, but you will find pork and shellfish in East Jerusalem restaurants catering to tourists or Christian Arabs. There are no kosher restaurants in East Jerusalem or in the Old City except in the Jewish Quarter. The Old City has plenty of snack stands and inexpensive Arab restaurants. Most Old City eating places are open daily from late morning to 5 or 6pm.

In West Jerusalem, the dining scene is quite different. Downtown West Jerusalem has tons of restaurants and places for a quick meal, and most places are open until very late at night. You'll find pedestrian streets that are wall-to-wall eating places, but thanks to the years of terror attacks (2000-03), many of the best restaurants in town have moved to hidden courtyards; to quiet, slightly out-of-the-way streets; and to old Ottoman-era mansions surrounded by walled gardens. Almost every restaurant or cafe has a security guard at its entrance (and many charge a security fee that's worth the peace of mind). The many ethnic restaurants (Yemenite, Israeli, Kurdish, Eastern European) that travelers loved have mostly gone. Like Tel Aviv, Jerusalem has an oversupply of personal, vaguely French/Mediterranean restaurants overseen by talented, inventive chefs. Meals are interesting, of good quality, and not cheap, but almost all restaurants offer incredible business lunch specials from noon until 5 or 6pm that make them very affordable.

Sabbath Dining -- Kosher restaurants usually close by 2 or 3pm on Friday for Shabbat. The following nonkosher restaurants have Friday evening or Saturday afternoon hours, and provide a good variety of choices. In downtown West Jerusalem: Adom, Barood, the restaurant at the King David Street YMCA, Sakura, Spaghettim, Zuni, McDonald's, and Arcadia. In South Jerusalem: Levan at the Cinémathèque. In East Jerusalem: American Colony Hotel, Blue Dolphin, Askadinya, Pasha, and Kan Zeman at the Jerusalem Hotel.

Catching Restaurants at Their Best -- Saturday night is very big for dining out in Israel, but because kosher restaurants often prepare food for Saturday night on Thursday before closing for the Sabbath, and because nonkosher restaurants will not have received fresh fish and vegetables for 2 days, you won't find restaurants at their best. If you're going to splurge at a top restaurant, do it midweek.

Family-Friendly Restaurants

Moshiko's, on the Ben-Yehuda Mall, is the best shwarma stand in town (and their falafel is good, too) -- it's messy but delicious enough to entice most kids and offers outdoor tables in good weather (never give a kid a falafel sandwich to eat on the run unless you've brought a wardrobe of disposable clothes for him). In winter, when there are no tables, this is a poor option. Eldad Vesayhoo, in the Jerusalem Courtyard, off Jaffa Road, has the best-priced elegant lunch specials in town (Sun-Thurs until 5:30pm), which works out well for American families that don't want to keep late hours. Very speedy service comes with Eldad's luncheon specials, so kids don't get too impatient. Little Jerusalem Restaurant at Ticho House offers more leisurely service, but kids can get up and run around in the garden in between courses. The Village Green is a busy, reasonably priced self-service vegetarian cafe with lots of healthy choices. Kids love the tofu burgers, the lasagna, and the delicious desserts, many of which are made without sugar. The hot and cold salad bar includes spaghetti and is sold by weight, so you can buy very small amounts for tiny appetites.

Getting Connected in Jerusalem

Jerusalem offers a wide variety of atmospheric places to get online. Charges are usually NIS 6 to NIS 10 ($1.50-$2.50/75p-£1.25) for 15 minutes. In West Jerusalem, the entire, lively downtown area from the post office on Jaffa Road, including the Ben-Yehuda-Yoel Salomon Pedestrian Mall area up to King George Street, is a Wi-Fi zone. If you've got a Wi-Fi-equipped laptop with you, just set up in one of the many cafes or restaurants with everyone else. In the Old City of Jerusalem, the best (and possibly the cheapest) place is Abu Assab's Internet Cafe, above the venerable Abu Assab Orange and Carrot Juice Shop, at 172 Suq Khan es Zeit St. (the main thoroughfare running from Damascus Gate south; tel. 02/628-2486). It offers private, air-conditioned booths, is open daily 9am to 10pm, and has discount plans and unique advantages such as fresh-squeezed orange, grapefruit, and carrot juice (the best in town) to keep you alert and healthy while surfing. You can also have your laundry done while you browse. In the Jewish Quarter, the little Bookshelf Bookstore, 2 Jewish Quarter Rd. (tel. 02/627-3889), is an interesting center of neighborhood activity, with two computers tucked in among the books. It's overseen by a very helpful owner who came to Israel from California. It's open Sunday to Thursday from 10am to 6pm and Friday from 10am to 2pm.