Jerusalem Week comes to an end with one of the oldest and most recognized institutions in the city - Jewish Restaurant • Get acquainted first with the words "Ashtnor" and "Kada" • Daily delivery

• Celebration of skewers

  Photo: 

  Collected Carla

The meat scene in restaurants divided Jerusalem. The debate between the midnight mix and Sima, between the mercy of "mercy" and that of "Azura," between the Shawarma of "Moshiko" and the Yemenite in King George - split and will probably continue to split the city for many more years. So we decided not to take part in it (meanwhile), and focus on one of the oldest and most controversial institutions in the market of Manyode, which is perhaps because it did not take part in the media battles - hardly known outside the capital.

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Judith Restaurant is one of the oldest restaurants in the Mahane Yehuda market. It boasts a diverse range of coals and coals on coals, Ashtnor baking ("Lapa" in Jerusalem) in Tabun located in the front of the restaurant, and special salads made by Yehudit Ezekiel. The restaurant focuses on business meals, and is not open in the evening. How do Judith's meats fuel the Corona crisis and shipping? We sat down to check.

City veterans say that somewhere in the 1970s, Judith was the first family to introduce an original Iraqi taboon to the restaurant, baking the first Kurdish / Iraqi "Ashtnor" in the city. Judith's "Ashtnor" is much thicker than the "Lapa" found, and only slightly crispy at the top. Oriental enthusiasts will find similarities between her and the Indian Nan. This is one of the best baked goods I ever got to eat, and I went out.

The salads that came with the "Ashtnor" above proved again: The difference between loving handmade salads and the industrial ones that are most often served skeptically is like the difference between flu and Corona: both are annoying and infectious, but only one is "global". The eggplant salad with hot tomatoes was wonderful, the chickpeas tasted too delicate to me but the rest of the house wiped my fingers. From the tabula I managed to taste only a small bite, because the just was quick to own it ("It's mine! You have enough salads"); Even the Turkish salad, which I usually dabble in forested mountains to get rid of, I wish, was delicate and delicious, far from light years away from the Turkish salad in writers whose every connection with Turkey is definitely accidental.

The flagship of "Judith" is the "kada" - a kebab on slow-roasted coals and crammed into the famous "Ashtnor" with tahini and thicket. It's not kebab in Lapa: There are no unnecessary extras in the style of the Shawarma testimony, certainly not chips, but net meat, which is generously seasoned. And the taste? Like the kebab you would eat at home, if you had a Kurdish mother: packed with oriental spices to a degree that does not take over the palate too aggressively. Also great for Ashkenazim (or Ashkenazi presses like me).

The Jerusalem mixed up a little disappointed. Without going into the campground, mixed Jerusalem is an art in itself, both in its choice of ingredients and their roasting. Mixed "Judith" had most of the necessary ingredients, but the end result was a bit dry: it was probably roasted for two unnecessary minutes, the spice did not mention neither the delicate "Sima" nor the midnight kicker, and did not win me To mark more than "okay," and a pity. Poppy skewers and kebabs were good, made to the right degree, and it was evident that quality surgeons came. 

Like this city, the history of "Judith" is rife with ups and downs: in the 1970s and 1980s it was a thing, and in 1995, the owners decided it might be enough, and sold it to franchisees. It was an utter failure: the level of food dropped significantly and the restaurant that once couldn't find a table at noon became desolate. Then Judith returned to the pots and salads, and in recent years the restaurant has flourished, even in the fierce competition that began at the compound of Hanioda. 

Today, apart from small falls here and there, it can be said with a mouth full of gloom that the restaurant has returned to its beautiful and good days, with the help of Moore, Judith's son, from the former "magic carpet". If you are not a Jerusalemite and have never heard of it - this is no longer a skewer. The salads, stews and cadets stand out in the front row of market restaurants. 



Judith. Chestnut Street 5. Mahane Yehuda.

Opening hours Sunday to Thursday 12:00 to 23:00 and 11:00 to 

15:00