Mia Bar – Jerusalem: Lot’s of beer, and young atmosphere.

After you’ve probably strolled the whole day through Jerusalem’s steep streets, passing from one historical monument to another, seeing lots of religious and political sights, You probably feel the heavy burden of that city on your shoulders and the one thing you want to do when the sun comes down is just to find some place light, young and secular to drink it off. Well – The Mia Bar might just be the place for you: Located in the city center and named after the main character in Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction”, that bar offers a very wide variety of beers, ales, and single malts, from all over the world, next to a long menu of other alcoholic drinks. Even folks who never drink beer will be able to grab a bottle here - maybe a light fruit flavored beer. This place has a good atmosphere mostly because of its jumpy play list which contains especially Rock, and the high-end design, with the long heavy bar at the entrance room, the high tables and the intimate downstairs room furnished with sofas. The food menu consists mostly of fried dishes – I’d recommend their plain French fries (and NOT the home fries) or Fried Schnitzels next to one of their exotic beers. And the crowd? Especially friendly and fashionable (well, it’s Jerusalem so not too fashionable), young gangs in their 20′s-30′s, students and soldiers during vacation. If you’re a party lover, my suggestion is to start here and then move on to one of the dance bars in the area. Have a great night…

Mia Bar. 18 Hillel st., Jerusalem (next to Aroma Cafe). Open Sun-Sat from 19:00 till after last customer leaves.

French Breakfast in Jerusalem

One of the coolest places in Jerusalem that almost never fails to delight is “Zuni” – a Cafe/Restaurant/Bistro that has 3 or 4 different menus for different times in the day. While lunch and dinner menus are somewhat pricey (though food is very good), I would suggest going there for breakfast in Saturday, when there aren’t many options of open (and good) restaurants in Jerusalem.  This might also be an option for hotel guests that partied late in Friday night, and won’t be getting up to eat their complimentary hotel breakfast (breakfast is served in “Zuni” until 12:30 pm). This is also one of very few places in Jerusalem where you can get bacon next to your omelet, and a have decent meal on Saturday.

The breakfast menu in Zuni is comprised of 10 options for a main dish,  from 16NIS (~4$) to 59NIS (~15$). If you’re going as a couple, I would suggest sharing the classic breakfast (45NIS – ~11$) and the AMAZING French toast with fresh fruit and cream fresh (4 fr’s in one dish: 34NIS – ~8.5$). You can drink the wonderful Mimosa or Kir-royal (34NIS each). Try to get a table next to the window.

“Zuni”. 15 Yoel Solomon st. (second floor) Jerusalem. open 24/7.

My Favourite Falafel Place

What’s better than Falafel for the first post? You can find this Israeli classic almost anywhere here, but even though Falafel can be a real treat,  most Falafels are kinda boring tastewise, so you really got to have some experience if you want to find the good Falafel places. My personal favourite Falafel store is called “Super Falafel” and it’s on the corner of Allenby and Lilenblum streets, Tel Aviv. Don’t let the cheesy name confuse you – This is a serious place for serious Falafel addicts from the Allenby street area, and it tends to get somewhat crowded at lunch time (Which, of course, is what you’re really looking for in a good Falafel place, because this means you get the hot and fresh Falafel balls straight from the oil). They have really good Pitas (somehow they never fall apart!), and they always serve fresh and tasty Falafel balls. Also, they offer a good complimentary variety of salads and pickles to go along, and all that with a nice attitude and for very few shekels (one pita is ~13Nis, and you can also get a half-pita for less, but you shouldn’t). If one of the two owners of “Super Falafel” recognizes that you are a first-timer, you might get a quick show they sometimes put on for newbies, including  some lame jokes and very basic Falafel-acrobatics. You should then take your Pita and go sit in a Rothschild st. Bench, where there are small lawns and you can eat quietly and stare at locals.

Like many good Falafel places, there aren’t too many ordering options here, other than some choices of salads to go in your Pita (More is less, I suggest you go with only Hummus, Salad, Tahini, and maybe one or two other additions) . BUT- Three very important things you should know are:

1. Never ask for French-fries in your Pita. Only mediocre Falafel places serve french-fries, maybe because they try to conceal the Falafels bad taste this way.
2. Most people add some kind of a hot sauce to their Pita (in Hebrew: “HARIF” which literally means “spicy”). “Super Falafel” offers 2 kinds of hot sauce: the red one which is off-the-wall spicy, and the green one which is milder. In my opinion, if you’re not sure about this, that means you probably shouldn’t take any of them – if you go over the limit just a tiny bit, that can sometimes ruin the whole “Pita with Falafel” experience.
3. You can sometimes see Near the Bottle of Thina, a Beige-Colored Bottle. Beware! This Contains “Amba” which is a pickled-Mango-sauce, which is both spicy and mean-tasting. I heard that if you eat this, it affects the smell of your sweat (!)

“Super-Falafel”. 113 Allenby st., Tel-Aviv (next to “Super-pharm”). open 10:00-16:00 weekdays. Price is ~20NIS (~5$) for one Pita with Falafel and a cold drink. Bus: take the 4 or 5 line to Allenby-Rothschild corner.