Lovely Meal at Jerusalem's גן סיפור Gan Sipur

Last week I found myself invited with a small group to  גן סיפור Gan Sipur, a dairy restaurant in Jerusalem. Although I must have passed nearby many times, I hadn't the vaguest idea it existed. But after having a meal there, I won't forget it.

As you can see in the photo above, the food was amazing. The prices weren't bad considering the quantity and quality of the food. I ordered the "Sport Salad," which is in the foreground. It was really tasty. All of the salads chosen by my companions were excellent. 

My only complaint was the noise, though the staff did move us to a slightly quieter table. Acoustics aren't great, but I'm hypersensitive to noise and wear hearing aids, also. Yes, rather complicated.

Gan Sipur is in Gan Sacher near the junction of Betzalel Street, the High Court and Cinema City. It's in the park. 

Kosher Dairy

Open: Sunday – Thursday – 08:00-24:00, Friday – 08:00-14:30, Saturday Evening – An hour after Sabbath ends until midnight.

Contact: Seating can only be booked by telephone 072-3360999 Extension 5   

Delicious, Munchies, Ariel

For the longest time, I'd been hearing from friends that the best restaurant in nearby Ariel is Munchies. Some of them even say that it's their all time favorite. Finally, this week, I got to eat there when some friends took me out for my birthday, and I must agree.

When we entered Munchies, there was loud music, a bad start. But when I mentioned the problem to the staff who had greeted us, he immediately turned it down, no arguments at all. 

The generous beef hamburgers come with a choice of side dishes. I chose the salad which was really delicious. The waiter brought a variety of dressings and sauces for the hamburger and salad, but I didn't try them. I just asked for olive oil for the salad.

Apparently, they've reduced the menu, since the war, fewer available employees. I found plenty of food to choose from. They have a nice variety of hamburgers and other main courses, plus side dishes and a children's meal.

They offer a featured beer, Shikma שקמה. Since this was my "birthday celebration" how could I refuse to try it? It was a pleasant beer, amber ale, not very strong, but tasty.

As you can see, it's a really lovely salad. I appreciate the dressing was on the side.

Munchies is on Rechov Hamelachah 2, in the old industrial zone not far from the Rami Levi Mall/Shopping Center. Phone 03-9368000. Yes, it's kosher.

Service was wonderful, polite and helpful. They don't have an English version of the menu, one of the things that bothers some of my friends. But the waiter was willing to translate and explain when needed.

Yes, I've joined the Munchies Fan Club!

Kiko, New Meat Restaurant in Armon Hanatziv near Arnona

Kiko Meat Restaurant, 

15 Daniel Yanovsky St, Armon Hanatziv, Jerusalem, 

Tel: 0778836883 Kashrut: Rabbanut Yerushalayim Mehadrin

Last week my friend and I decided to eat out, and she had recently read Eluna email and noticed a write-up about a new meat restaurant not far from where where we were. Yes, Kiko is the restaurant. It's right next to the Armon Hanatziv Promenade (the Tayelet), a major tourist destination in Jerusalem.

As we walked over, we decided that if it didn't look acceptable, then we'd go someplace else.

Lucky for all, Kiko seemed clean and comfortable, plus the prices were reasonable.

We went over the menu, Hebrew only, though the guy working here insisted that he could explain it in English if needed. 

 

There's a nice variety and choice of foods and presentations, sandwiches in different breads, platters and salads. 

We both ordered salads with meat. Mine was the kabob salad. After ordering, our meat portions were put up to cook. 

We were very pleasantly surprised to discover that we could have our bowl filled with whichever salad ingredients and dressings we wanted, like at a salad bar. All we had to do was to indicate to the young man working there what we wanted.

Once the salad bowls were full, we waited for our meat to finish cooking, and then we were called to get our dinners. We brought them to the table and ate. Both meals were perfect. We weren't offered any pittot or bread, which was fine with us.  Yes, we look forward to returning.

JAPANIKA, Ariel

A few days ago a neighbor gave me a call:

"I'm going stir-crazy. Do you want to get out?"

"Me, always. Where are we going?"

That's how we ended up having lunch in the Ariel branch of JAPANIKA. 

We left home without much of a plan and drove to the nearest city, Ariel, which is only about fifteen 15 minutes away by car. 

My main course, chicken, vegetables and
noodles. Delicious

At the entrance of Ariel, from the direction of Highway 60, the Ariel University is on the right and a shopping center on the left. This time we decided to enter the shopping center from Moriah Street just before the shopping center and not from the lower parking area. It was a good idea, since there were plenty of empty spaces; something never found on the bottom.

Feeling rather adventurous, we stayed away from the big dairy restaurant chain --aren't they all pretty much the same?-- and we decided to try out JAPANIKA.

Neither of us had been there before.

We definitely were lucky, because they have a lunch special which includes a cold drink, first course and main course. There are different main courses according to which price you pay. My friend chose the least expensive, NS55, and her main course was sushi, which she really enjoyed. 

Salad, my first course, excellent

I "splurged" paying NS59 and had a fantastic filling chicken dish as my main course. 

Now, in all honesty, a simple tuna salad in most of the dairy chains would have cost us more and have been less satisfying.

We were both very happy with our food choices. Service was pleasant, and the entire atmosphere in the restaurant was perfect. I must admit that I had been a bit nervous about going, since a few weeks before I had gone to a different Japanese-style restaurant with a different friend and a short while after eating began suffering from an awful aftertaste. But, thank Gd, JAPANIKA's food was better, no aftertaste at all.

JAPANIKA is open Sunday-Thursday 12 noon to midnight, Fridays 12 noon until two hours before Shabbat. Then it opens an hour after Shabbat ends until midnight.

Phone *3636

Kosher Ariel Rabbinate 

שפשוואן - Chefchaouen Restaurant Review

As Israel began opening up after months of COVID corona closures I had dinner out with a special person in שפשוואן - Chefchaouen. It's a relatively new restaurant that although opened during the difficult COVID corona restrictions has managed to survive. 

Many of the health restrictions here in Israel seriously affected restaurants, because although the cooks and serving staff can easily mask themselves to keep customers and themselves safe, there's no way that customers can do the same. Therefore only Takeaway was permitted, and quite a few restaurants just stayed closed. That's how my eating partner and I ended up experimenting, trying a new and different restaurant. 

I knew nothing about שפשוואן - Chefchaouen when I called it up to make our reservations, and to be honest, I still can't pronounce its name.

The person who answered the phone was charming with a French accent. I'm sure he was amused that we made reservations, because when we arrived we were the only customers. שפשוואן - Chefchaouen began filling as we ate. It's on Hillel Street #19 where the sidewalk is very wide, and they have an outdoor eating area in a flexible structure. There were just enough walls to keep us warm and comfortable and few enough to make sure we felt safe from unwanted viruses. In today's world, clean, safe fresh air is a priority.

שפשוואן - Chefchaouen is a kosher meat restaurant that serves North-African French style food. As it was a cold night, plus we were in a celebratory mood we ordered our favorite drinks, whiskey and beer. When I questioned the beer list on the menu, which was nothing special, I discovered that they had many more including my favorite, Shapiro's IPA. 

Maybe it was the chill in the air, because I went against my general practice and ordered a carbohydrate based main course, the couscous. Of course it also comes with vegetables, chicken breast and chickpeas. They were very generous with the chicken, so I was able to fill up easily without having to eat all of the couscous. It was totally delicious. 

The menu they have online is slightly different from what we ordered from, but it doesn't really matter. Everything they served us was first class, 100% scrumptious. We've added שפשוואן - Chefchaouen to our list of favorite restaurants and look forward to eating there again.

To contact them for reservations, questions and takeout call 074-769-1307. 

Harvey's Smokehouse, Must Return

Last week, after attending Rothschild and Sons, I went with friends to Harvey's Smokehouse. Even though it was very windy and rainy outside, they did their best to warm us up. We were very lucky to get a perfect table without reservations. I guess Gd knew we needed a good meal.

Harvey's Smokehouse is a Bar & Grill · Barbecue Restaurant · American Style Meat Restaurant, strictly kosher, of course. It's on 7 Ben-Shetach Street, a couple of minutes' walk from Zion Square, 02-624-6444, opens 12 noon, Sunday-Thursday.

Because of the hour, we didn't order a real complete meat meal, their specialty. That's one of the reasons I must return.

I started with beer and was very happy that they offer on tap Shapiro's Israeli craft beer. There was a choice between Shapiro's IPA and Wheat beers. Since I wasn't sure which I wanted, I was brought both to taste. The wheat was pale and anemic both in looks and taste, but the Shapiro IPA didn't disappoint at all. My only mistake was getting a "third" rather than a "half."

One of my dinner companions ordered a fruity cocktail, which I tasted. It was absolutely perfect, too.

My companions ordered a couple of servings of meat chili, onion rings and one "cole slaw." I was offered tastes of them all. The chili and onion rings were fantastic, but I was so disappointed to see red cabbage masquerading as cole slaw I just couldn't touch any. Maybe it's the New Yorker in me, but when I hear cole slaw I expect to see white (green) cabbage and carrots. Anything else is sacrilegious, an abomination. The only one of us who tasted it insisted that the dressing was genuine, but then again, he wasn't raised in New York.

I ordered a salad that had bits of grilled chicken breast and their own "bacon bits." It was labeled as having "ranch dressing," but all I tasted was mayonnaise, and I don't like mayonnaise. When I mentioned this to the waiter, he quickly took away my plate and replaced it with a new salad, sans the guilty mayonnaise. There were simple dressings on the side, which were perfect.

We had been tempted by the lamb chops and other grilled meat, but having shared two portions each of the chili and onion rings, besides the big salad, we barely had room for a bit of dessert, chocolate mousse and apple pie for sharing.

Our driver perked himself up with some coffee, and then we drove back to Shiloh after a totally enjoyable evening in Jerusalem. Great food and company. I can't ask for more. But I really do want to return to Harvey's Smokehouse and try their meat, lamb... I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.

BIGA, Ariel, Great Food and Service

Last week I blogged about my trip to check out the new mall across from the Ariel University.   It's only a few minutes from Shiloh and right near the bus stop/trampiada to a from Shiloh. I was with a couple of friends, and we had lunch out together in BIGA, a kosher dairy restaurant/bakery chain.

The mall has a couple of levels, and there are stairs and an elevator to get from one to another. BIGA is on top with a nice terrace, though my friends and I ate inside.

The menu was interesting, even though it's a chain. I had a delicious lentil salad and tried the bread, so I could review it...

My friends tried other dishes, and we were all very happy with our selections. Another good thing was that the staff was very accommodating when we requested that they lower the volume of the music.
I was the youngest in the group, and most of us are at the stage where hearing conversation can be difficult when there's too much background noise. We made a point to sit in a quiet corner.

The BIGA Bakery is very popular. My friends also stocked up on their bread. I saw that they also have a selection of gluten free breads.  I couldn't find the opening hours, but the telephone number is 03-7721779‬, and it's on 2 Moriah Street, Ariel, across from the Ariel University.

We all agreed that BIGA is the best restaurant in Ariel. I just hope it keeps up its standards.

Dinner at Merlot, A Real Dairy Restaurant in Shiloh

It's so nice to know that we don't have to travel at all to get to a nice dairy restaurant. When we had been renovating our kitchen last summer, the added expense of a few meals "out" was minor financially and made life much easier. Merlot is nicer than many of the chain dairy restaurants you find all over the country and on par with, or better than most kosher dairy restaurants in most cities and towns.

Our most recent visit to Merlot was just before Pesach/Passover, after Bedikat Chametz, the ritual searching for the forbidden chametz. There was nothing to eat in the house, especially after a long day cleaning and reorganizing the kitchen to turn it into Pesach mode. For many years, my husband has brought home felafel from Jerusalem for us to eat after the "search," but this year he was home that day. When he did some shopping that afternoon, he checked at the pizza store, which apparently is attached to Merlot, about felafel. They didn't have any on their menu, but he was told that Merlot would be open until midnight with its full menu available.

Once we finished with the ritual, I "spruced myself up" for our post-Bedikat Chametz "date night," and we walked down the hill to Merlot. For those coming by car, there's a parking lot behind it, and it's also near bus stops for the 461 and 463 Egged Taavura. Merlot is across the street from the Shlomo Levyatan Supermarket and the Kupat Cholim Leumit clinic. Yes, the location is central and convenient, even for those who don't live in Shiloh. And of course it's strictly kosher mehadrin.

Merlot is open Sunday-Thursday 8am - 11pm. Friday 8am- until 1pm (or possibly later during summer hours,) and after Shabbat until 11pm. Call 02-6284601 for more information.

My husband ordered the Asian Stir-Fry, and I had the Sweet Potato Salad. We were both very happy with the food, which was delicious. We didn't order dessert, though I've eaten their desserts other times, including parties. Merlot also has a Breakfast Menu, which is offered until 12 noon.

Yes, we definitely recommend Merlot, and it's worth the trip, even if you don't live in Shiloh. Shiloh is only about ten minutes from the Ariel University, Ofra and of course closer to Eli and all the Gush Shiloh Bloc communities, besides being off of Highway 60 and barely ten minutes from the Alon Road.

Early Lunch and Visit to Israel Museum

Yesterday I only had one of my Matan classes, so I was finished there before 10:30, and I had made a date with a friend visiting Jerusalem. Since we had a couple of hours and we were both hungry, we decided to go to the Israel Museum.

Mansfeld Café is always a good choice for a simple tasty dairy meal. For her it was breakfast, and for me it was an early lunch. I chose the Quiche of the Day, which was spinach. It comes with a fresh salad and was totally delicious.

After eating we found ourselves just wandering around various exhibits, not with any real plan. We didn't even check to see what's new. There is always so much to see in the Israel Museum, even in the permanent exhibits there are changes, since the museum has  so much in its storage facilities.

We really enjoyed looking at these beautiful and amazingly modern-looking jewelry in the Jewish Costume and Jewelry: A Matter of Identity gallery.

Right now, even though quite a few galleries are being redone with  new exhibits, there's still plenty to see. As the days get hotter, it's extra important to find places that are indoors. Parking is free, and there are a number of buses that you can take to the Israel Museum.

Bagel Café Breakfast, Also Lunch

I have some good friends I meet regularly for all sorts of enjoyable activities. Yesterday's plan was a festive breakfast "out."

We decided that the most convenient location would be the Hadar Mall in Talpiyot. The big problem was to choose which of the many restaurants there. Until just a few months ago, there wasn't much choice, but now they've opened what could be called a third "food court" by the main entrance of the building on Pierre Koenig Street.

Choosing where to eat wasn't easy with so many restaurants. I checked out some via the internet, and we ended up at the Bagel Café, which has a nice large section by the front door.

There's a rather daunting, large selection of food to choose from, special breakfasts and the regular menu. At first glance, it's not cheap, but then I realized that I could "kill two birds with one stone." Since many of the breakfast choices contain too much food, which is why my friends weren't interested, I ordered the Israeli Breakfast.

The above photo doesn't even show all the food served to me. There was also a cookie, which I should have trashed. In the right hand upper corner of the above picture you can see a bit of a bagel. The first thing I did was to make myself a sandwich, tuna, salad and some cream cheese. That was put aside, later packed for my lunch. The remaining food was delicious, filling and kept me going until I got home after 3pm. All I ate, just before a 12 noon class in Matan, was an apple and cup of water. So, even though I spent more than I had hoped for breakfast, I really got two filling meals from it.

The wait staff was polite, but not all that professional. First of all, they should have asked me if I wanted to start or end with my coffee. They started by bringing me coffee and the cookie. The cookie wasn't worth the calories, and I'm sorry I ate it. And my carrot juice wasn't brought with the rest of the food, besides the fact that it should have had been served, or offered, first. I had to remind the staff that it was part of the breakfast. One of my friends had very clearly requested that she get a salad without any tomatoes. But the salad had tomatoes, so she sent it back.

The food was much better than a recent lunch I had at the Emek Refaim branch. Maybe it was the processed fish, we had eaten that had an awful salty aftertaste. This time I ate none of that.

We were all happy with our breakfasts. It was a nice treat.

Bagel Café
Hadar Talpiot Mall, Jerusalem
Sun-Thu 6:30- 23:00
Friday 6:30 -14:00
One Hour After Shabbat Till 23:00
1-700-500-751

Japan-Japan, Do Japanese Really Eat That Sort of Food? Restaurant Review

The other night, I went with a friend to the Derech Hevron branch of the "Japanese style" chain of kosher restaurants, Japan-Japan. I'd heard about their restaurants from friends who like the food, especially since there's a branch in nearby Ariel, in the Rami Levy Mall.

I was hungry, since it had been a very long day in the middle of a busy week. As I understood, traditional Japanese food is served separated to show off color, texture etc. But in all honesty, I had never eaten in a Japanese restaurant or been served Japanese cuisine.

The Beit Hanatziv branch of Japan-Japan, 101 Derech Hebron is very attractive, and it wasn't too noisy. Noise can be an awful problem for me. The staff was attentive, and we got our hitech menus set up in English.

There was a large choice of foods on the menu, though most seemed pretty similar to my untrained eye. I decided to choose a cooked main dish, rather than a salad, hoping that there would be enough vegetables in it. We thought it rather funny that although the menu was on a tablet, the waiter had to write our order on a pad with a broken pen, that he had to replace.

Before our food arrived we were served complementary "chasers," which were appreciated, giving our dinner out a festive aura.

My doubts about the authenticity of the food started pretty quickly with our first course of chicken wings, which my friend and I shared. They had been given a Japanese sounding name, but were really just Asian style "buffalo wings" with jam, "soy sauce" and sesame seeds. I did enjoy the small lightly pickled salad on the side. It helped cut the sweetness of the sauce used on the wings. And since "buffalo wings" are a "finger food," we were given lots of napkins and wipes.

For a main course, I chose the Asian Mix which had both beef and chicken, while my friend chose something just with beef. When we were served them, it seemed to me that the waiter had mixed them up. So, we asked again, and were told that we had been given the correct dishes. It didn't take long for us to discover that our guesses had been correct, so we switched them. Yes, as you can see, both main courses are the same color. A careful look revealed the chicken and eggplant in mine. The advantage of this mistake was that we got to taste both, and the sauces were very similar. The sauces totally overpowered the vegetables, both color and taste-wise. But I must say that there was plenty of meat and chicken, and the beef was very tasty.

Neither of us were interested in trying their sushi. If we had been guests of the restaurant, our experience would have been different, no doubt.  But I'm just an ordinary customer. The staff and management hadn't a clue that I'd be reviewing it.

The meal was filling, and not only was Japan-Japan full of seated diners, we could see that they do an amazing takeout business. Bags of cooked food kept leaving the kitchen area, both taken by customers and special delivery staff.

Neither the Japan-Japan site, nor facebook page seem to function in English. But, as I had mentioned earlier, they have an English menu and the staff seemed capable of serving English speaking customers.

We decided to pass on dessert; I couldn't bear the thought of more sugar. Later on we had some fresh fruit, which was perfect.