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 | Jerusalem Restaurants | Tips 11 - 20 of 111 |  |
Popular Restaurants | Miscellaneous Restaurants Tips | All Tips (111)
 | |  |  | Finks: The place that turned Kissinger away (twice) | Tip Rating:    |  |  | |  |
A wonderful, tiny, atmospheric Jerusalem institution that has been here for 70 years. You have Harry's Bar in Venice, The Foreign Correspondent's Club in Phnom Penh and you have Finks. 6 tables in an intimate Austro-Hungarian or French auberge style bar/dining room. Wooden (well actually its formica painted dark brown to look like wood) panels half way up the wall, white walls above covered in a lexicon of original paintings and sketches from local artists of the 1940s and 1950s. One wall is dominated by the bar (and which provides a further 6 or so seats) and there is certain hushed reverence: this is more to do with the atmosphere generally than any enforced silence or overt respect for the other diners! Its has been here so long there are many stories to be told - the popularity of the place with foreign correspondents and world press (CNN reporters, at the end of the Gulf War, flew in from round the region, had a celebratory meal and then made their way back to the airport); Kissinger being turned away twice - once as a result of his security men wanting to clear the restaurant so that he could eat (no way!) and the second occasion when he wanted to eat on a Friday evening (another no no): the owner respecting his customers to such an extent that only on one occasion as he asked a table if they would take coffee at the bar - a certain customer had been waiting 30 minutes already. That certain customer was Golda Meir, Israeli prime minister at the time....
Traditional Austro-Hungarian fare: soups, steaks, goulash, strogonoff, schnitzels and a good (if safe) wine list. Some 100 whiskies are allso on offer. There's nothing trendy or faddish about this place - the menu, like the decor, has remained the same for years. (It closes every August for a month for redecoration: the colours are the same, the paintings hang in exactly the same place!) The food isn't the best in town, and its overpriced for what it is but nevertheless its still good wholesome fare and the rarified atmosphere makes it a must for at least the experience. Leave a Comment Theme: OtherPrice: US$31-40 » Currency ConverterComparison: more expensive than averageAddress: Hahistradut StDirections: Top end of Ben Yehuda St (turn right at the end of the pedestrian part of Ben Yehuda)
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| | | | 'The Armenian tTavern': Armenian style | Tip Rating: | | | | |
Variation on a theme of Middle Eastern. There are suprisingly few simple, decent places to eat in the Old City other than the more obvious 'felefal fast food joints' or, in the Jewish quarter, overpriced coffee bars (actually evrything is overpriced in the old city!). This is a bit of a haven, close to the Jaffa Gate but surprisingly seems a bit off the beaten path. Its in the basement of the building, tiled interior, fountain gently splashing in one corner.
Most of the meat dishes, especially the kofte type meatballs and variations on a theme. Tend to be a mix between Turkish and Persian - slightly spicier than Turkish, a little more basic than exotic side of Persian cooking. Leave a Comment Theme: Middle EasternPrice: US$21-30 » Currency ConverterComparison: about averageAddress: Armenian Patriarchate Rd, Old CityDirections: Turn right at Jaffa Gate, head up the alley to the left of the square.
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