Kosher Restaurants in Jerusalem, Page 27

Machane Yehuda is the beating heart of it. The market packs dozens of kosher stalls, bars, and restaurants into a few lanes, and it is the single densest place to eat in the city, quiet and workaday by day, loud and full by night. From there the scene fans out: the city center around Ben Yehuda and Jaffa Road, the upscale German Colony and Emek Refaim with their large Anglo community, Mamilla by the Old City walls, and the Jewish Quarter for tourists inside the Old City.

The Haredi neighborhoods, Geula and Mea Shearim near the center and the northern areas like Ramot and Givat Shaul, run their own scene on stricter standards, geared to residents rather than visitors.

More than anywhere else, Jerusalem is about the tier. Most places carry the Jerusalem Rabbinate, many at the Mehadrin level, and then there is a whole world of independent badatzim: the Eda Haredit, Beit Yosef, Rav Rubin, Rav Machpud and others. Which one you accept quietly decides your options, especially in the Haredi areas.

So read the teudah. Two restaurants side by side can sit under very different hashgachot, and in Jerusalem that difference matters to a lot of diners. If you keep to a specific badatz, look for its name on the certificate rather than assuming.

The overwhelming majority of kosher restaurants close for Shabbat, from Friday afternoon until Saturday night, and the city goes quiet with them. Plan Friday meals and Shabbat dining through your hotel or a pre-arranged option. The tourist-facing areas, Mamilla, the German Colony, and the Jewish Quarter, serve English speakers well. Out in the Jerusalem hills just off the highway, we have reviewed Nura, a fire kitchen worth the short detour, on its own page.