Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Istanboolie, a Different Kind of Restaurant

When I went out for a late lunch with my son the day before his "reserves duty," he said that he had discovered some place new. He lives in Nachlaot, the neighborhood which skirts Jerusalem's open market, Machane Yehuda. Now that I'm no longer vegetarian, I am much easier to please and enjoy the new and different foods.

And new and different most were, especially for my palette.


The restaurant is just a block down from Jaffa Street, towards Agrippas, on a corner, near the more well-known Rachmu and not far from the wholesale candy place I used to take my son to when he ran the "candy concession" in junior high school. Walk down the street parallel to the "shuk" street, with the old Hadassa's Health Food Store; does it still exist? Istanboolie is on the corner.

The food looked interesting, and the prices seemed reasonable. While we were trying to decide what to order, the owner/manager? recommended their "tasters" meal. Foolishly, we didn't ask price first. It was early afternoon, and I, the fanatic breakfast eater, hadn't eaten all day, so that's my excuse.

Everything was delicious, even things I normally don't like. There were all sorts of dishes I had never tasted before, like more kinds of kubeh than I had ever seen.




Yes, we plan on going back, but next time, we'll order a more specific meal.

7 comments:

Sarah Likes Green said...

looks interesting

Batya said...

Next time you're in Israel...

Juggling Frogs said...

Those whole peppers intrigue me. Were they stuffed? Or are they just there for decoration?

Inquiring minds (well, okay, one inquiring mind at least) want to know!

Batya said...

Yes, the peppers were stuffed. A sweet rice & raisin filling.

Anonymous said...

Was the dish you ordered more expensive than you thought?

Batya said...

Our mistake was not making a specific order. I hadn't eaten all day, and when the owner/manager said:
"How about the t'imot, samples?"
I was so hungry, I didn't ask prices and I didn't choose, so he just kept coming out with more and more, and we just kept on eating and eating.
Believe me. It cost lots less than I spent on my younger son in New York!

Anonymous said...

juggling frogs--my question, too.

Red peppers stuffed with rice and raisins...yum. I'll have to try that as I have an abundance of red peppers in my garden this year.