Outdoor seating at Cafe Cafe at Sdei Trumot

Cafe Cafe offers a very large variety of Italian and dairy meals which are both tasty and nice sized portions.

Cafe Cafe’s menu is the same at all branches. You can view the English menu below.

The restaurant has a very pleasant, shaded seating area outside where you can enjoy the fresh air, or if you prefer, you can take advantage of the air conditioned indoor seating which also very spacious and comfortable.

My wife and I found the service to be well above average. The waitresses were extremely pleasant and were very quick to serve our meals.

Restaurant Details:

Restaurant Name: Cafe Cafe
Address: Hwy 90 next to Sdei Trumot, Jordan Valley
Telephone: 04-6584648
Hours: Sun-Thurs 8:00-23:30 | Fri 8:00-15:00
Kashrut: Rabanut Emek HaMayanot (Mehadrin)
It’s highly recommended to verify that the kashrut certificate hasn’t changed

Cafe Cafe’s English Menu:

Cafe Cafe’s English menu

Directions:

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The entrance to Nahman

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.

The charming alley leading to Music Square

Harp-shaped fountain in the square

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 Solomon Brothers band at Music Square

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.

The arched window with the view of the square

Liquor and wine bar

Nahman’s taboun oven

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.

Mediterranean Ceviche

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.

Baked sea bream

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.

Eggplant Lasagna

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!

Pizza margarita

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.

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:

Main menu

Breakfast 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

The post Nahman Restaurant, Jerusalem – Italian Cuisine with Live Music – Review appeared first on Mehadrin Restaurants in Israel.

The restaurant was established in 2007 by Galia Daniel-Avichail and her husband Shlomi. Galia’s father, grandfather and great-father all were in the bakery business going back to Poland. The family bakery in Zichron Moshe, Jerusalem established by Galia’s grandfather in 1932 became somewhat of a legend.

Entrance to Avichail

Galia decided she wanted to set off on her own, and that’s when she founded Avichail.

Ambiance

Avichail is located in a quiet residential neighborhood which is a beautiful place to take a stroll after your meal. Avichail offers both indoor and outdoor seating. The indoor seating is simple but pleasant. The tables and chairs are cafe style and the lighting is plentiful. During the day, lots of wonderful sunshine shines in due to the large windows surrounding the seating area.

Indoor cafe-style seating

Outside, there is a nice seating area underneath an overhang which lets one be out in the fresh air but protected from the direct sun. They just recently inaugurated a new summer seating area for super casual socializing over a pleasant meal.

Summer seating area

Cuisine

Avichail’s menu includes classic cafe-style breakfast dishes like eggs, shakshuka and bagel toast, among many others. One of the waitresses told me that the boasts a house expert that prepares truly awesome coffee and that it is so special that people come afar to drink it.

Stir Fry Salad

For salad lovers, Avichail’s menu has a wide selection and they are packed with healthy and flavorful vegetables and fruits. For example, the quinoa salad includes lettuce, baby leaves, sprouts, dried tomatoes, roasted almonds and cranberries as well as the more “standard” veggies: cherry tomatoes, carrots, and cucumbers.

The afternoon and evening menu offers a nice variety of Italian dishes, many of them based on pasta prepared by the house. First you choose the type of pasta you want: pappardelle, rigatoni, gnocchi, or ravioli or even whole wheat strozzapreti. The pastas come topped with a creamy sauce and you can decide if you want the pasta with mushrooms, tomato sauce, pesto, sweet potato etc.

House-made ravioli with the filling of your choice

My wife ordered the broccoli quiche served with a small fresh salad. Although the quiche didn’t blow our socks off, it was quite tasty. If you’re not a broccoli fan, you can order the quiche with spinach, sweet potato, mushrooms or onion.

Brocolli quiche

I ordered the fish and chips because I really enjoy it and because it’s hard to find mehadrin restaurants that offer it.

Fish & chips

From the culinary aspect, one might think that making superb fish and chips is simple but there’s more than meets the eye:

• the fish has to be tender and moist
• the batter should be crisp and not overwhelm the fish
• the fries should be large and seasoned with just the right amount of salt
• Ah, and both the fish and chips must be served piping hot

In my opinion, Avichail’s fish and chips were good, but not great. The fish was tasty but not as tender as I would like it to be. The fries were quite small which meant eating quite of few of them – one by one.

Service

A restaurant’s service can make or break the experience. The waiters and other staff at Avichail were extremely friendly and our meals were delivered quite quickly.

If you’re looking for a quite, pleasant place with tasty, kosher mehadrin food and good service, Avichail is definitely a worthwhile place to visit.

Restaurant Details:

Telephone: 02-678-2979
Address: 21 Ha-Dishon St, Jerusalem
Hours: Sun-Thurs 8AM-11PM | Fri 8AM-3PM
Kashrut: Jerusalem Rabbinate Mehadrin
It’s always recommended to verify that a restaurant’s kashrut certificate hasn’t been changed

Restaurant Rating (1-5):

Food: 4-
Service: 4
Cleanliness: 4
Ambiance: 3

Directions:

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See the list of all mehadrin restaurants in Jerusalem

The post Cafe Avichail – Tasty Food in a Mellow Atmosphere (Mehadrin) appeared first on Mehadrin Restaurants in Israel.

If you’re wondering about the restaurant’s name, the term trattoria refers to a less formal, Italian-style restaurant and Haba is the name of the family that established the restaurant (the Haba family is well-known for their bakeries in Jerusalem).

Entrance to Trattoria Haba on Yafo St.

The truth is, I walked past Trattoria Haba many times on my visits to Mahane Yehuda, but whenever I glanced into the place as I hurried by, all I saw was a beautiful variety of breads and baked goods. I mistakenly thought that this was “just” a bakery. I’m not one to go out of my way to buy baked goods. I guess I’m more of a meat and potatoes type of guy.

You might ask how then did I discover Haba – the restaurant? Well, the answer to that is simple – I didn’t discover it. My wife did! We had just finished a very disappointing dinner experience at another restaurant nearby, and we were strolling back to our car when Haba caught my wife’s eye. Maybe I should listen to her more often…

We poked our heads in to take a look and the place was packed. That’s a tell-tale sign that it’s worth investigating further! We asked to take a look at the menu, and it looked really inviting. As we went on our way, I made a mental note for us to visit Haba in the future. Last week I decided that the time had come, and we weren’t disappointed at all.

The Ambiance

The decor at Haba is casual but with some really charming touches. The wall directly to the left upon entering is painted a bright yellow and is covered with professionally designed signs in Hebrew and English touting the “Catch of the Day,” “Pasta Fresca” “Drink in or Take Out” – is that a funny translation from Hebrew or what? Beneath the signs are wooden bins filled with colorful fresh fruits and vegetables.

The adjacent wall is lined with shelves with bags of coffee beans, wine bottles and specialty breads prepared in Haba’s bakery upstairs. The front counter is covered with baguettes, gorgeous pastries and specialty items such as strawberry jam, cherry tomato spread, pickled lemon cream – all made by the house.

The chairs and tables are cafe style, they’re not fancy, but they fit in with the overall feel of the restaurant. Towards the back of the restaurant there is a door that leads to a small outdoor seating area situated in the shuk of Mahane Yehuda. There is quite a bit of additional seating upstairs, but most people seem to prefer sitting downstairs.

Outdoor seating in Mahane Yehuda

Wine bottles on display add a classy touch

The Cuisine

Although the atmosphere at Haba is pleasant, what’s really impressive is their cuisine. Haba’s breakfast menu is not extensive, but it has a lot of variety and the dishes are well thought out and presented with flair. Among the dishes are a healthy quinoa salad, shukshuka, and Trout Benedict (eggs benedict served on a bed of steamed spinach, toasted challah and trout accented with a delightful hollandaise sauce).

Baladi Eggplant with tahini and harissa sauces & crispy focaccia

Haba’s menu for the afternoon and evening has a rich selection of Italian dishes. For a starter, we ordered the Baladi Eggplant which is roasted and deliciously seasoned. The eggplant is surrounded by dabs of tahini and harissa sauces and garnished with chopped tomatoes and chopped parsley. All this deliciousness is rounded off by a crispy, seasoned focaccia baked by the house

For our main courses we ordered the Open Lasagna and the Leek and Potato Latkes.

Haba’s lasagna, filled with swiss chard ragu and grilled zucchini, is baked in a savory, creamy tomato sauce and is topped with tarragon and pecorino cheeses. The lasagna is not heavy on the pasta, but the flavors are exquisite.

Open Lasagna in creamy tomato sauce topped with tarragon and pecorino cheeses

The leek and potato latkes are served with a healthy portion of mujaddara rice with lentils and leeks topped with a tasty yogurt sauce. The dish came out piping hot, and it was truly delectable.

Leek and potato latkes with mujaddara and yogurt sauce

Among Haba’s other offerings are pizzas and focaccias baked in the restaurant’s taboun, spinach fettuccine, the risotto of the day, cheese tortellini and salads to name a few.

Burrata cheese salad

Sea Bream fillet on fettuccine with lemon butter sauce

Haba is famous for their breads, and their desserts looked mouthwatering, but we were stuffed by all the food, and we’ll have to taste those melt-in-your-mouth yummies on another visit.

Baguettes & specialty breads baked in house

A few of the many house desserts

Service

The service at Haba was quite good. We were given menus very quickly, and the waitress returned soon after to take our orders. Everything arrived on time: our drinks, the first course and the main courses. The waiters and other staff were all extremely friendly and helpful. I must note that on the evening of our visit the restaurant was experiencing a very slow night (we noticed that there were very few people walking around downtown in comparison to usual).

During peak hours the restaurant gets really hopping, and it’s best to reserve a table ahead of time because otherwise you may have to wait to get seated.

Parking

Since Haba is downtown, finding parking on the street is extremely difficult. However, there are three large parking lots nearby – one is located under Mercaz Clal on Kiach St, the second one is on Agrippas St. and third one on Mordechai A’liash St.

Restaurant rating:

(1 = poor 5 = Awesome)
Ambiance: 3+
Food: 4+
Service: 4
Cleanliness: 4

Restaurant Details:

Name of restaurant: Haba
Address: 119 Yafo St., Jerusalem
Phone: 02-623-3379
Hours: Sun-Thurs: 7AM-11PM | Fri 7AM-3PM
Kashrut: Jerusalem Rabbanat Mehadrin
It is always recommended to check the kashrut certificate and its expiration date

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Directions

Navigate with Waze

See the list of all mehadrin restaurants in Jerusalem

The post Trattoria Haba – Exquisite Italian Food Near Mahane Yehuda appeared first on Mehadrin Restaurants in Israel.

They have a menu which provides a wide variety of options for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Images with the various options from the menu appear below.

Ricotta’s entrance in Har Hotzvim

Ambiance at Ricotta

There are three distinct dining areas in Ricotta. The main dining area which is adjacent to the bar and the kitchen, a side room with several tables and an add-on area which has more simple tables and is less classy. We chose the main dining area and were not disappointed.

The quality wooden tables and padded chairs together with the carpeting, attractive lighting and wall art all create an enjoyable dining atmosphere.

Ricotta’s main dining area

Classy, pleasant atmosphere

Cuisine

I started off by ordering the house soup which is a creamy mushroom soup served in a warm, crispy bread bowl. The presentation was attractive, a large, round loaf of bread serving as the bowl with the top of the bread cut but still attached. Creamy mushroom soup overflowed onto the side of the bread bowl. The bread was quite tasty and the soup was hot and creamy – just the way it should be.

Cream mushroom soup in bread bowl

It was a very generous portion, particularly the bread, that it could have served as a main dish, but since I had a main course coming, I didn’t finish the bread.

All Ricotta’s soups are served with mini rolls and various tasty dips.

Mini rolls with dips and seasoned olives

Being a lover of lasagne, I ordered the Four Cheese Lasagne. Although it did not have a tomato based sauce, which I particularly love, it was still quite delicious. It had tons of cheese, was seasoned nicely and came out hot.

Four cheese lasagne

We also ordered the Hot Salmon Salad which I would describe less as a salad and more like a salmon, sweet potato and mushroom stew on a bed of lettuce. It was good, but not “a wowzer.”

Hot salmon salad

We saw many other dishes being served and it was clear that a lot of attention is given to the artistic presentation of the dishes.

Eggplant rollups

Tabouleh health salad

Service

The service at Ricotta was very good. The various dishes arrived promptly and with a smile. As the restaurant began to fill up, all of the staff were busy. There were no personnel idly standing around. They were either taking orders, delivering food to tables or resetting tables. That’s a healthy sign that a restaurant’s staff is hard working and busy.

Staff behind the bar

—-

To sum it all up, I would definitely recommend Ricotta as a very good Italian restaurant for a nice out as a couple or to celebrate with the family.

Restaurant Details:

Telephone: 02-587-0222
Address:  3 Kiryat HaMada St. , Har Hotzvim, Jerusalem
Hours: Sun-Thurs 8am-11pm | Fri 8am-1pm |
Sat. Night: 1 1/2 hours after Shabbat – Midnight
Kashrut: Jerusalem Rabbinate Mehadrin Glatt
It’s always recommended to verify that a restaurant’s kashrut certificate hasn’t been changed
Ricotta’s Website

My Ratings:
Food: 4
Service: 4
Cleanliness: 4+
Ambiance: 4

Navigate with Waze

Directions to Ricotta (see street shot below)

Directions how to find Ricotta’s entrance

Ricotta’s menu – soups, salads and hot salads

Ricotta’s menu – quiches, lasagne & pizza

Ricotta menu – appetizers & pasta

See the list of all mehadrin restaurants in Jerusalem

The post Ricotta – Italian Restaurant in Har Hotzvim, Jerusalem (Mehadrin) appeared first on Mehadrin Restaurants in Israel.