Fish in The Shuq

Grilled Trout in Michmoret מכמרת, fantastic

 A couple of nights ago I went to Jerusalem's nighttime restaurant and bar/pub hotspot, none other than Machane Yehuda, the "market." It used to be an open-air market, but over the past decade or more, it has been renovated and covered to help it compete with the discount supermarkets. Today's shuq isn't the shuq of old in so many ways.

As day fades into night, and the leftover produce is packed away, out come the tables. Instead of hearing the sellers calling out bargain prices, there's music blasting. And there's an amazing variety of food places, from ice cream to steak to fish. My companion and I knew exactly what we wanted, fish at Michmoret. They keep the prices down with a simple fixed menu. For ns80 each, we started with a table full of Israeli salads and very tempting wholewheat bread. Then the fish arrived. I had ordered the trout, and we both had it with vegetables, not chips, which is the other choice. Everything was perfectly prepared, delicious! I cleaned the plate. We sat inside, where it was relatively quiet. It was truly a perfect meal. Then we walked around the shuq a bit before going home.

Michmoret is also open lunchtime. There's a variety of beers, wines and other drinks, if you want them along with your meal. It's located at 7 Hatut Street, close to Agrippas Street, so there are buses that go there and the lightrail on Yaffo Street. If you're in the center of Jerusalem, you can easily walk to Michmoret. Phone 02-579-4847.