Local Cuisine

Coffee & People-Watching

Cafe life has returned to Jerusalem after the terrorist attack-induced tourist slump years of 2000 to 2003. The Ben-Yehuda Street Mall, the adjacent and more picturesque Yoel Salomon Mall, and Jaffa Road across from Zion Square are filled with cafes that are great for people-watching. You can order giant, eminently shareable salads as well as quiches, pasta dishes, soups, sandwiches, rich desserts, pastry, and of course, coffee. If you just want coffee, make sure there are no minimum charges. Cafe Rimmon, at the lower end of Ben Yehuda Mall, is an ideal spot for watching Jerusalem life pass by.

A great cup of coffee, probably the best in town, can be found 2 blocks south of Ben Yehuda Mall, at Aroma, on the corner of Hillel Street and Rabbi Akiva Street. It's a busy counter with a few tables, but it's a Jerusalem institution, serving good, inexpensive sandwiches as well. It's open 24/7.

Jaffa Road, across from Zion Square and eastward to Helene Ha Malka Street, has recently developed into Jerusalem's new "coffee row." Aroma has set up a second branch here with tables on the sidewalk. A block to the east, Hillel Expresso Café and The Coffee Bean, an import from California, face off on opposing corners of Helene Ha Malka Street, with lots of sidewalk and inside tables, and excellent salads, sandwiches, quiches, and desserts. They're all in Jerusalem's free Wi-Fi access zone, and dotted with laptop users. Shilshom Bookstore Cafe, 5 Yoel Salomon Mall, is an atmospheric retreat, its walls lined with books, where patrons read and browse, write letters, log on to the internet, or just linger over coffee, soup, salad, wine, or cake.

Street Meals

Falafel & Shwarma -- My favorite falafel is on the corner of Agrippas Street and the wide uncovered pedestrian street of the Machane Yehuda market (on your right as you walk up Agrippas St. from King George: It's the first broad market street past the covered market area). Here you'll find a Yemenite falafel counter serving well-spiced falafel fritters, and all kinds of salads, pickled vegetables, sauces, and condiments. For a bit extra, you can ask for your falafel to be wrapped inside an enormous Iraqi pita instead of a plain pocket pita, which makes for a very filling meal. Best of all, you can carry your sandwich across Agrippas Street, and through one of the entrance portals to the old Nahalot neighborhood, where you'll find a small playground with benches. There, under the scrutiny of the local cats, you can sit down and enjoy your meal (bring your own napkins). This park is also a good place to bring a take-out mixed-grill sandwich from Sima's or Sami's farther down Agrippas Street. I always like to slice a few little plum or cherry tomatoes from the market into my takeout sandwiches.

At the corner of Agrippas and King George streets, you'll find a large and very busy falafel and shwarma place with mountains of chopped salads. Here you'll have to eat standing on the sidewalk like a normal Israeli, but without the local skill of not dripping falafel sauce all over yourself and having half your sandwich land in the gutter. The falafels are average, but the spot is convenient, open until 10pm or later from Sunday to Thursday ('til 2pm Fri), and the turnover is fast, which ensures freshness. Moshiko's at the lower end of the Ben-Yehuda Mall does Jerusalem's best shwarma sandwiches. Quality is tops, portions excellent, and if you can nail down one of Moshiko's outdoor tables, you can people-watch and not lose half your sandwich on the ground.

On the north side of Hanevi'im Street, opposite its intersection with Havatzelet Street, is a hole-in-the wall place selling what many Jerusalemites consider the best falafel in town. See if you agree. If you're willing to walk a few blocks west of King George Street to Falafel Bar, at 70 Jaffa Rd., you'll find the only falafel stand in Jerusalem run by a new American immigrant (and possibly the only one run by a woman)! Yehudit Cohen taught creative writing in America, and her falafel and shakshouka (a spiced egg dish) are terrific!

The Gate Cafe, just inside the Damascus Gate, on an upstairs covered terrace on the left, serves fabulous extra spicy "hand-built shwarma," a kind of shwarma not made on a spit. It's different, authentic, and memorable!

Bagels -- Bagel Corner, 41 Jaffa Rd. (tel. 02/624-4115), right at Zion Square, sells a variety of freshly made bagels ranging from onion, garlic, and whole wheat to cheese for approximately NIS 4 (80¢) each. They're more breadlike than traditional American bagels, but they're tasty. They also sell bagel sandwiches made with a wide variety of cream cheeses, lox, and other fillings. It's open Sunday to Thursday, 24 hours; on Friday until 2pm; and on Saturday after Shabbat. In the Jewish Quarter of the Old City you can pick up your bagels at a similar shop beside the Seven Arches, near the Burnt House Museum.

Burekas -- The block of shops on Hanevi'im Street opposite Havatzelet Street includes a bakery with a sidewalk window counter where you can order fresh-from-the-oven potato, spinach, or cheese burekas, as well as miniature cheese or fruit Danish-style pastries. You can find burekas throughout the city, but they're always more of a treat when fresh. The Machane Yehuda market is another good place for freshly baked burekas. The English Bakery, on Jaffa Road opposite Zion Square, has quality burekas, and very nice sweet pastries and cookies.

Stuffed Breads -- Samboosak Bakery/Café, Jaffa Road next to the Coffee Bean on the corner of Helene HaMalka Street, is filled with fresh-from-the-oven Middle Eastern breads stuffed with savory cheeses and herbed vegetables, as well as hearty little Middle Eastern pizzas, sandwiches, muffins, and cookies. Great for a NIS 14 ($3) takeout meal.

Sabbiyah -- This traditional (and tasty) Iraqi-Jewish sandwich is a big local favorite. The best place to pick one up is The Sabbiyah, a stand at 24 Ben Yehuda St., on the right side as you walk uphill on the first block past the pedestrian zone. Owner Ido will tuck eggplant, cooked egg, spicy mango, green pepper, fresh herbs, and other things into his mother's fabulous fluffy "cloud" pita (whole wheat or white). It all costs under NIS 14 ($3).

Fresh Roasted Nuts -- Yaavetz Street, a small pedestrian passageway running between Jaffa Road (half a block east of King George St.) and the Ben Hillel Street section of Ben-Yehuda Mall, has two shops selling absolutely the best fresh-roasted nuts in town. My favorite is the shop at the far end of the street from Jaffa Road, just at the foot of the steps leading up to the Ben-Yehuda Mall. Prices on the signs are usually quoted for 1 kilo; divide by 10, and you'll have the price for 100 grams, which is a reasonable-size bag for one person to carry around for fortification on a day's sightseeing.

Take-Home Meals -- Dishes, a storefront with no street number on Jaffa Road across from Safra Square, is a little place with hot counters laden with fresh-off-the-stove pots of homemade Iraqi kubbeh, soups; couscous; wonderful meat, chicken and fish patties; stuffed vegetables; and many other foods from Middle Eastern Jewish cuisines. Point to what looks interesting, put together a meal, and take it back to your hotel room. Everything is delicious and authentic; a very full meal rarely tops NIS 32 to NIS 45 ($7-$10).

Ice Cream -- Dr Lek, at the end of Yoel Salomon near Hillel Street, is a local chain offering exotic flavors; Dream and Cream, Lunz Street, in the Ben Yehuda Mall, is international and serves very rich ice cream; and at the corner of Lunz and Ben Yehuda streets you'll find a popular place (no name, but you won't be able to miss it) that offers your choice of 25 kinds of fruits, nuts, and chocolates that they'll whip up into a fresh frozen yogurt for you on the spot.

Belgian Waffles -- Babette's, at Shammai Street near Yoel Saloman Street, is a Jerusalem legend. The place is a closet, and the waffles are takeout only, with many possible toppings. Lines form outside the door. It's open evenings only -- look for a window with purple shutters.