Friday, January 12, 2018

Surprise Sandwich Discount

Tuesday night I ended up without a dinner date and without food from home, so I literally walked up and down Jerusalem's Emek Refaim Street looking for something worth buying and trying to burn some calories. It was too depressing to think of sitting by myself, while the world out there was socializing, so I figured I'd pick up a sandwich. Well, there weren't many reasonably priced sandwich options. The bagel place charged over ns20 for tuna, and the bagels are the "fake" puffy round rolls. I would have paid it if there had been real bagels, boiled and baked. They are almost impossible to find nowadays.

Suddenly I remembered the Cafe Neeman Bakery up on Pierre Koenig off of Emek Refaim. I wasn't sure what they'd have at that hour, since it's more a breakfast and lunch place.

When I entered I could smell freshly baked rolls and bread. Customers were coming in for bread and rolls to use the following morning.

I found a small selection of readymade sandwiches in long Israeli "sandwich rolls." I asked the price:
"NS18.50, but only NS15, because it's late."
That seemed in my budget, and I was hungry. And the sandwiches looked fresh. Only when I got to where I was staying did I notice that I hadn't taken the one I wanted, but there was nothing I could do. I ate the chavita, fried egg, on white bread. It had sufficient, though not a lot of, salad. It was tasty and filling. Even the full price is reasonable, being under NS20.

Each of these Ne'eman Bakeries have different selections and prices, but all seem rather reasonable. Yes, I do recommend going there.


2 comments:

Ed Greenberg said...

Hi Batya,

NIS 20 == USD 5.85. I can't buy a decent sandwich for six bucks in a big city in the US. I generally can't even buy one here in Glens Falls, NY. The deli nearby has ONE sandwich in special for $5.50, and most other ones are up in the seven dollar range.

A Kosher Pastrami sandwich in NY will be almost $20.

Of course, the price of one item between countries does not make a full comparison. I have no idea what wages are like.

All the best, and Good Shabbos.

Batya said...

Interesting. In Israel we like to eat, and prices are competitive. That bagel place was charging about ns22 for tuna and ns19 for cream cheese, takeout, more if you were sitting there. Falafel is now between ns15-20 in most places.