Eating
You
could
spend
weeks in
Jerusalem
eating
well and
healthily
without
ever
going
into a
restaurant.
Breads,
cheeses
and
yogurts,
pickles,
olives,
fresh
vegetables
and
fruit
are
freely
available
and
cheap.
Café and
street
stall
foods
such as
hummus,
falafel,
corn on
the cob,
pulses
and
sweets
are
available
everywhere.
Also
common
are
shops
selling
what are
known in
Arabic
as
bizr,
in
Hebrew
as
bitzuhim
- nuts,
seeds,
salted
roast
chickpeas
and the
like -
while
bakeries
in West
Jerusalem
supply
burekas,
Israel's
second-most
popular
finger
food (after
falafel),
consisting
of a
puff-pastry
triangle
stuffed
with
cheese,
spinach
or
potato.
Many
of the
cafés
listed
under "Drinking"
also
serve
food,
especially
snacks.
But
the
restaurants
are good
too. In
East
Jerusalem,
they
serve
excellent-value
traditional
Middle
Eastern
foods
,
especially
mezze
(mixed
hors
d'oeuvres)
and
kebabs.
In the
western
half of
town, on
the
other
hand,
there is
an
extraordinary
variety
of
international
cuisine
,
including
Thai and
Chinese,
French
and
Italian,
Indian,
Kurdish
and
Yemeni,
even
South
African
and
South
American.
Thai
fast-food
stands
are
especially
common,
though
the
greasy
stirfries
that
most of
them
churn
out are
a far
cry from
the
aromatic
delights
of
Thailand,
or even
of Thai
restaurants
in
Britain
or
America.
Strangely,
what
Westerners
usually
think of
as
Jewish
cooking
-
gefilte
fish,
latkes
and the
like -
is
surprisingly
hard to
come by.
And
though
bagels
are
famously
Jewish,
you
won't
find a
decent
one in
Jerusalem,
or
indeed
in
Israel.
That's
because
the
bagels
here are
steamed
rather
than
boiled
before
baking,
so they
don't
get that
chewy
texture
vital
for a
real
Yiddische
bagel.
The best
approximation
you'll
get is
at
Bonkers
Bagels,
on Zion
Square,
and at
10 King
George
St,
where
various
types
are sold
plain or
filled,
but
don't be
surprised
if they
fail to
equal
the ones
you know
and love
from
London,
Detroit
or New
York.
The
sesame-covered
bagel-shaped
bread
rolls
sold in
East
Jerusalem
are
called
ka'ak,
and
usually
eaten
with
za'atar,
of which
you
should
be given
a small
amount
in a
twist of
paper
when you
buy one.
The
most
famous
local
bread
is pitta,
a round,
flat,
hollow
bread,
into
which
falafel
or
shawarma
are
stuffed,
along
with the
requisite
salad or
pickles,
for
street
eating.
On a
Friday
in West
Jerusalem,
you'll
also
come
across
halla,
a yeasty
plaited
loaf
made
with egg,
used to
celebrate
Shabbat
and
Jewish
festivals.
Junk
food
junkies
in need
of a fix
will
find
McDonald's
at 4
Shamai,
and
Burger
King
at 7 Ben
Yehuda,
both in
downtown
West
Jerusalem.
Drinking
Drinking
habits
are
vastly
different
on the
two
sides of
town.
West
Jerusalem,
as in so
many
other
things,
is much
like
Europe,
with
espresso
coffee,
café
culture
and
tables
on the
pavement.
Bars get
going
late and
people
tend to
hang out
in them
until
the
early
hours.
In Arab
East
Jerusalem,
on the
other
hand,
including
the Old
City, a
café
still
usually
means
the
traditional
qahwa,
where
Turkish
coffee
or tea
with
mint is
served
to men
smoking
argilas
(hookah
pipes)
and
playing
backgammon.
Bars on
the east
side are
few and
far
between.
Of late,
a few
more
Western-style
cafés
have
opened
up in
East
Jerusalem
serving
espresso
and
food,
and it
remains
to be
seen
whether
the
trend
set in
the
northern
West
Bank
town of
Nablus,
where
women
have
taken to
frequenting
qahwas
and even
smoking
argilas,
will
spread
to
Jerusalem.
Bint
al-Balad
is a
café set
up
especially
for
women,
though
men can
drink
there
too.
Tea
can be a
bit hit-and-miss
in terms
of
quality.
It's
usually
served
black,
often
with a
sprig of
mint (in
which
case it
is known
in
Arabic
as
shai
bi-nana
and in
Hebrew
as
tay
binana)
or a
slice of
lemon,
but all
too
often it
consists
of a
meagre
tea bag
dunked
in a cup
of
vaguely
hot
water,
or even
a cup of
lukewarm
water
with a
teabag
on the
saucer
for you
to do
the
honours
yourself
(a
favourite
in
Israeli
restaurants).
Arab
qahwas
are more
likely -
but by
no means
certain
- to
make it
properly
with
loose-leaf
tea and
boiling
water.
Awful
though
their
tea may
be,
however,
Israeli
cafés do
generally
serve
very
good
espresso
coffee
. A
cappuccino
is
usually
topped
with a
large
amount
of
whipped
cream
and
chocolate;
caffé
latte
has lots
of milk
but
usually
escapes
the
toppings,
while
afukh
means
espresso
with
just a
little
milk
(like an
Italian
macchiato
or
Spanish
cortado).
Instant
coffee
(known
universally
as
Nescafé,
or just
Nes) is
also
normally
available
in
Israeli
cafés
and
comes
white
unless
you
specify
no milk
(bliy
halav).
Arab
establishments
generally
serve
Turkish
coffee,
usually
with
cardamom
(bi-hel).
If you
don't
like
cardamom,
ask for
it
without
(bidoun
hel).
Israelis
are not
big
drinkers,
so even
in many
West
Jerusalem
bars,
coffee
and soft
drinks
are
served.
Cafés,
on the
other
hand,
especially
in West
Jerusalem,
often
keep a
small
stock of
liquor (handy
if you
fancy a
slug of
brandy
in your
coffee),
so the
distinction
between
a café
and a
bar is
sometimes
blurred.
Alcohol
is
easily
available
in West
Jerusalem
and in
some of
the more
expensive
restaurants
in the
East.
Taybeh,
produced
by
Palestine's
first
microbrewery,
near
Ramallah,
and
brewed
according
to the
German
beer law,
with
only
four
ingredients
- barley,
hops,
yeast
and
water -
is by
far the
best
beer
in the
country,
but not
easy to
find.
West
Jerusalem
now has
its own
new and
very
micro
brewery
indeed,
Eli's,
producing
a rather
sweet
Caribbean-style
stout,
which is
currently
available
only at
one bar,
Mike's.
Israeli
Maccabi
and
Goldstar,
and
foreign
brands
such as
Carlsberg,
Tuborg
and
Amstel,
brewed
in
Israel
under
licence
are not
great
and tend
to be
made
with
maize as
well as
barley.
Olives,
pickles,
pretzels
or
sunflower
seeds
are
often
served
with
beer in
bars.
Israeli-made
spirits
are
invariably
awful,
and best
avoided.
The
quality
can be
disguised
with
fruit
juice or
mixers,
but over-indulgence
will
result
in a
severe
hangover.
Unfortunately,
imported
spirits
are
fiendishly
expensive
and in
general
are
exempt
from
happy-hour
reductions.
