When I entered Yehudit Restaurant, just off Agripas Street, I was greeted by Yehudit himself, who has been cooking there for 39 years. If your mother was a Kurdish woman who loved to cook, that food would be home-cooked, comforting dishes like the ones your mother used to make.
“Let's eat first, then let's talk,” she ordered as soon as I sat down.
We started with a series of salatim, nothing really outstanding but all delicious and fresh. The humus with meat was made with kebab meat instead of minced meat and was delicious.
Yehudit also served me homemade grape leaves stuffed with rice, which I particularly liked, and khade, a Kurdish pastry usually made with cheese, but this time with meat.
Where the food really shined was with the main courses. The bustling Mahane Yehuda Shuk in Jerusalem. (Credit: Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
great main course
I'm not usually a fan of kebabs, but Yehudit's, famous throughout Jerusalem, was juicy and delicately spiced. The pargit (dark chicken) was also juicy, and the entrecote skewers were cooked medium-rare, as expected. The side dishes she served us were also great, her homemade majadara with fried onions and lentils, rice, beans, and very tasty chips.
Yehudit prepares everything fresh every day and gets great satisfaction from seeing her customers enjoy her food.
“I have a radar so I can see all the tables at the same time,” she said. “Sometimes my regular customers come in and they don't know what to order without me.'' They say, “Yehudit knows what I like.''
On a recent Tuesday night, there were almost no customers in the restaurant. The war hit business hard and put an end to the groups of tourists who used to come for lunch and dinner, she said. But there's still quite a bit of takeout business, especially for her famous kebabs.
“Do you have any soup?'' asked a man with glasses who was eating alone.
“Lentils or beans,” she answered.
“Oh!” he said after tasting the bean soup.
“I make everything from scratch,” she proudly told him.
It turns out that the only diner, Sharon Schwartz, a doctor from Kfar Saba, had dropped off his wife and children for a family event and had time to explore Jerusalem. When he was hungry, he wandered into Judith's house.
“At first I was sad that I didn't order two servings of soup, but then the kebab came and I wasn't sad anymore,” Yehudit told me with a big smile.
Prices are reasonable for this kind of all-inclusive meal. If you are a vegetarian, salads and side dishes cost only NIS 45 with free refills. Two kebabs or pargit skewers, a salad and a side dish costs 88 Nice. Premium meats, such as entrecote or moulade brisket, are more expensive.
The children's menu and business lunches for NIS 55 are also worth checking out.
Yehudit RestaurantHa'armonim 5 Hours: Sunday – Thursday, 12pm – 10pm, Kashrut: Rabbanat Yerushalayim
I was a customer at the restaurant.