When Israelis talk about home cooking, they don’t always have their own home in mind. When I fantasize about Israeli home cooked meals I miss (which I often do) I think of my mother’s meatballs in green beans and tomato and her chopped liver, but also of the Libyan mothers’ mafroum (ground beef sandwiched in potato, cooked in tomato sauce) and couscous. I think of Yemenite kubanneh (overnight baked pastry), of the many eggplant salads in Balkan restaurants and I miss my Iraqi grandmother’s kubbeh soup. So when I’m in Israel and feel the craving for home cooked food, I head to Iraqi or Kurdish restaurants in Jerusalem to answer my needs.
Israel is a special heaven for foodies and for any visitor who is curious about the way modern Israel was formed, with entire communities arriving to their Holy Land from North Africa, the Levant, the Middle East and Iran, Yemen, the Balkan, the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. To this day, small restaurants around the country still offer their original home fare in their own bubble of nostalgia
Besides for all the talked-about, fancy shmancy chefs’ restaurants, some of which I mentioned in my previous column [LINK] there is always a steady list of wonderful restaurants that serve traditional fare of different origins from the Jewish diaspora. The food, whether it’s Moroccan spicy fish in red sauce, Hungarian stuffed cabbage or Turkish burek, is based on tried and true recipes that date generations back. No wonder it’s so good. Such traditional restaurants can be found in any city and they offer a rare opportunity to try authentic dishes from around the Jewish world within a short drive from each other and without breaking the bank. These restaurants are likely to be kosher, therefore they’ll be closed on Shabbat.
Palestinian restaurants fall into the same category of tried and true traditional food, and being indigenous to the region means these restaurants didn’t undergo the adaptations other cuisines, like the Yemeni or Ashkenazi, had to go through when moving to Israel. Palestinian restaurants are a must for any visitor who is curious about local cuisine. My favorites are always the mezze served at the beginning of the meal, covering the table with bowls of all the goods of the land. There’s hardly any room left for main courses such as kebab in tahini, stuffed lamb neck or meat skewers.
Doctor Shakshuka – Libyan cuisine, specifically from Tripoli. The menu includes couscous with chickpea and root vegetable soup, chrayme (spicy fish in pepper and tomato sauce), mafroum (beef stuffed potato in tomato sauce) and the famous shakshouka – a sizzling frying pan of eggs cooked in spicy tomato and paprika sauce that’s available here with additions such as Marages sausages. And as if this is not enough, Doctor Shakshuka serves true lamb shawarma (most locations in Israel serve turkey shawarma with lamb fat), that’s considered by many to be the best in the country.
3 Beit Eshel st., Yafo tel:03-6822842, kosher
Other excellent Libyan restaurants:
Bechor and Shoshi in 10 Abu Chaziera, Bnai Brak, tel 03-5793856, and 13 Yad Charutzim, Tel Aviv, tel 03-6872895 (kosher)
Checho, 10 Shoham st, Natanya (in the market), 09-861-4511 (kosher)
The Yemeni-Jews make use of a few simple ingredients like flour, clarified butter, marrow bones, fava beans, vegetables and spices to create tempting delicacies like marrow bone soup with turmeric and fenugreek (two of the essential spices in chawayej, the Yemeni spice mix) and comforting, wonderful pastries like lachuch (similar to Ethiopian injira), kubaneh (slightly sour cooked bread, that started to show up recently in Israeli restaurants in NYC), melawach (fried puff pastry like dough) and jachnoon (overnight cooked rolls) that’s served with tomato salsa.
The West side of Shouk Ha’Carmel in Tel Aviv is the old Yemeni neighborhood and it’s a good place to find some of the original restaurants that have been serving Yemeni soups and stews for years. Among them is Rina and Zechariah, 22 ha’Kovshim st, Tel Aviv tel:03-5177612
Sa’adya, 1 Menachem Tuvia Madmon st., K’far Shalev, Tel Aviv, tel 03-6315899
Original Yemeni House, 25 Herzl st., Beersheba, tel 08-6288858
Azura is an Iraqi restaurant nestled in the small Iraqi lane within Machne Yehuda market in Jerusalem. It’s hard to choose between the many dishes that have been cooked for hours on small burners in large pots. You’ll find okra or green beans in tomatoes and beef, oxtail stew and stuffed vegetables. But the queen of the kitchen is the kibbeh soup, farina dumplings filled with ground beef cooked in red beet or tart Swiss chard soup.
4 Ha’Eshkol st., Jerusalem (in Machne Yehuda market), tel 02-6235204 (kosher)
also in Mikveh Israel St 1, Tel Aviv-Yafo, tel 03-501-5050 (kosher)
Other excellent restaurants that serve Jewish Iraqi or Kurdish food are
Rahmo, 5 Ha’Eshkol st, Jerusalem (in Shouk Machne Yehuda)(kosher)
Morduch, 70 Agrippas st., Jerusalem (in Shouk Machne Yehuda)(kosher)
Israel Mercaz Hakubbeh, 1 Vatik st., Tel Aviv (kosher)
Supra is a new Georgian restaurant that serves all the classics, including eggplant rolls in walnut and pomegranate, khachapuri with cheese and egg and khnakli dumplings, all with the world famous Georgian wine and loud Georgian music in the background (live music on Sunday).
11 Rothschild blvd, Tel Aviv, tel 03-5356433
Also try Hachpuria, 5 HaShikma st, Jerusalem (Shouk Machne Yehuda), for Georgian fast food
Deda, 61 Ben Gurion BLVD, Bat Yam, tel 050-942-7701
There are not enough Ethiopian restaurants in Israel, but more are popping up every year. The food is usually similar to the fare served in Ethiopian restaurants in America, arranged on a large injira to the center of the table with salads, legume and stew mound on top.
Tenat is a vegan Ethiopian restaurant, 27 Chlenov st, Tel Aviv, tel 03-5222829
Lala, 32 Teler st, Rehovot, tel:08-9964644
There are many Persian restaurants in the U.S., but most specialize in kebab which is often served with plain and boring rice. It’s much harder to find places that celebrate the true richness of the Persian cuisine, with home style stews and rich rice dishes. One of the best known Persian dishes in Israel is the Gondi soup, dumplings of chickpea flour and chicken cooked in chickpea and turmeric chicken broth. Most places will also serve stews like choresht Sabrina, with herbs and beef, and rice dishes cooked with pomegranate and barberries.
Gorme Sabzi, 47 Levinski st, Tel Aviv, tel:03-5080709
Salimi , 80 Nachalat Binyamin st., Tel Aviv, tel:03-5188377
Gohar, 26 Ha’Ta’as st, Kfar Saba, tel:09-7664533
Balkan restaurants serve some of the best food, thanks to the Ottoman Empire and its culinary influence. Israelis are addicted to Turkish style burek, and you can find it everywhere, from supermarkets to specialty burek stores. But it’s worth making the effort and finding restaurants that specialize in Romanian or Bulgarian cuisines. There you can try grilled kebabs full of garlic, Shkambeh (tripe) soups, leek latkes, carp roe dip (ikra), mousaka (Turkish influence!), eggplant salads and papanash, fried cheese dumplings, for dessert. It’s not going to be a light meal, but you’ll love every minute of it.
Monka, 15 Yehuda Hayamit st, Tel Aviv-Yafo, tel:03-6820723
Romanian Raphsody, 3 Salame rd., Tel Aviv-Yafo, tel: 03-5187476
Ma’ayan Habira, 4 Natanzon St, Haifa tel 04-862-3193
Many American Jews who visit Israel are surprised by how hard it is to find an good old fashioned “Jewish food” restaurant in the land of the Jews. The term Jewish food in America refers usually to Ashkenazi food, but in Israel the definition of the term is much wider and includes all the cuisines I mentioned above, and many more. And while it’s not always easy to find Ashkenazi food, it’s still alive and kicking in ultra orthodox Ashkenazi communities, in small places that serve everything you hoped for, from borscht to chopped liver with schmaltz, to homemade cholent with real kishka.
Deutch, is located in the center of Ultra Orthodox neighborhood Me’ah Shearim. This place is the real deal. Do not miss the Jerusalem kugel that’s brown and caramelized and peppery.
32 Me’ah She’arim st, Jerusalem, tel 02-5829529
Shmulik Cohen, 164 Hertzl st., Tel Aviv, tel 03-6810222
Sender, 54, Levinsky, Tel Aviv,, tel 03-537-1872
Heimishe Essen (home cooked food in Yiddish), 19 Keren Kayemet St, Jerusalem, tel 02-5639845
At El Tanur, as with most Palestinian restaurants, the mezze is the best part of the meal and the colorful and bold flavored salads and dips will leave you wishing you could eat more. You can expect small plates with wild watercress and radish salad; tabbouleh; roasted, fried and cooked eggplant; okra in tomato; stuffed grape leaves; hummus and tahini; labneh; pickles and bitter olives (to name just a few), all served with freshly baked pita from the taboon, a special Levantine oven. For mains go for grilled meat or stuffed neck of lamb.
El Tanur, Reineh (at the gas station at the entrance to town), tel:053-7105323
Diana, 51 Paulus Ha-Shishi st, Nazareth, tel:04-656-0349
Ezba, junction Rama-Sajur, 04-9888808
