Nahman Restaurant, Jerusalem – Italian Cuisine with Live Music – Review

Nahman is a mehadrin Italian restaurant located in the Music Square in the historic Nachalat Shiva neighborhood in downtown Jerusalem. Nahman offers a wonderful culinary experience which combines excellent cuisine and exquisite ambiance.

Ambiance

Nahman is located right off the Music Square – more about that in a minute – and its outdoor seating has a beautiful front row seat to all the wonderful atmosphere in the square. Bright, colorful umbrellas serve as a “sun canopy” high above, covering the entire square and providing a delightful, fun atmosphere.

 

Nestled in the midst of Nahman’s tables is a harp-shaped fountain which provides beauty as well as the soft, soothing sound of flowing of water.

The pièce de résistance of the relaxing atmosphere though is the live music produced by the musicians appearing in the square. When my wife and I arrived, a solo pianist was playing and a bit later a three person ensemble, called the Solomon Brothers, performed until 11PM. The music starts at 12PM daily and goes through until 11PM. Yeah! The volume of the music was pleasant, but not overbearing, and it didn’t interfere with our conversation.

The indoor seating area is beautifully designed with wall decor, classy lighting, the bar with its floating liquor shelf, the sleek black taboun oven with its visible flames, the arched window with the view out to the square, and even the hand washing area looks aesthetic.

Cuisine

After we were prepped by all the marvelous ambiance, we were revved to focus on our culinary requirements.

The menu offers a nice selection of starters including a variety of salads like Caesar salad, Buratta salad, and Green Salad. The Green Salad caught my eye with its inviting combination of fresh spinach leaves, endive and salad roquette coupled with apples, dates and feta cheese. All these flavorful ingredients are topped with a date-honey balsamic vinaigrette.

We ordered the Mediterranean Ceviche which is a tender, tasty appetiser of raw sea bream, eggplant, slim slices of toasted bread, cherry tomatoes and touches of labane, all arranged artistically on the plate.

We also ordered the Arancini which are rice balls filled with mozzarella cheese served with a flavorful tomato sauce.

For the main course we ordered the fillet of sea bream which is baked in sage butter and served with green beans, shallot onions and baked potatoes. The fish was very tender and tasty and the vegetables were gently seasoned with herbs.

We also ordered the eggplant lasagna which is filled with antipasto eggplant and tomato sauce together with plenty of mozzarella and parmesan cheeses. The lasagna was topped with fresh green basil and parmesan cheese.

Lastly, we ordered the Margarita pizza. I know, I know, that’s a lot of food, but we didn’t even get close to finishing the pizza, and we took most of it home in a doggy bag – or in our case a people bag. The Margarita pizza is baked in Nahman’s taboun oven and the crust is superb. The pizza is covered with plenty of mozzarella, tomato sauce and parmesan and is worth every single calorie!

Service

The service at Nahman was top notch. Our waitress was quick, attentive and always arrived with a smile. Our food arrived quickly, and when we wanted to order additional drinks we had no trouble getting served.

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Summing up the evening, I would definitely recommend Nahman for its excellent cuisine, its enjoyable ambiance, particularly with the live music, and its great service.

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Restaurant Details

Name of restaurant: Nahman
Address: 12 Mevo Beit David, Music Square, Jerusalem
Phone: 02-992-0540
Hours: Sun-Thurs 9AM-11PM | Fri 9AM-2PM
Kashrut: Jerusalem Rabbinate Mehadrin
It is always recommended to check the kashrut certificate and the expiration date

 

Menu:

Directions:

Nahman is located in Music Square. Go to Yoel Moshe Salomon St. and then turn into the alley called Maavar Beit HaKnesset. That will lead you into Music Square. The Waze link below will take you to Hillel St. so you can find parking, and then go by foot to Nahman.

Navigate with Waze

See the list of all mehadrin restaurants in Jerusalem