Serving imaginative and extremely tasty food inspired by the produce offered in the nearby Machne Yehuda Market, Machneyuda is a tremendously popular Jerusalemite venue and one of the most interesting restaurants in Israel. The restaurant walks a fine line between top-end gourmet and down-to-earth, hearty homemade cooking and manages, by combining the two, to create truly unique dishes that leave most diners in awe. The menu is the joint creation of three chefs who run the restaurant together, each adding his touch to the creative portions served here.
The menu is separated into three price categories, allowing visitors to mix and match any way they like. The tasty polenta with mushroom ragú and asparagus and mounds of parmesan is served in a pickle jar; a portion of sweetbreads with tahini and a spicy sauce is served in a freshly baked pita and the other dishes are served in no less imaginative vessels. In the larger or main course section you will find a selection of fish and meat dishes, among them fresh sea bass in buffalo yogurt and a huge cut of beef made to perfection and intended for sharing.
The service is very good and the waiters have a very familiar manner. The atmosphere in the restaurant is very lively and as the evening advances the place becomes noisy and perhaps a little hectic, with the chefs singing, banging their pans in the open kitchen and toasting yet another merry evening (so if a quiet evening is what you had in mind this might not be the right place).
Make sure to book well in advance (at least a week) as tables are very hard to come by.
In short:
A unique and very tasty Jerusalem restaurant that offers visitors a mix between imaginative and well-prepared food and a lively inimitable atmosphere that raises everyone’s spirits
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Cost: $$$
10 Beit Yaakov St, Jerusalem
Tel: 02-5333442
Open Sun-Thu 12:30-16:00, 18:30-last customer; Fri 11:30-14:30; Sat 19:00-last customer
Machneyuda Website and English Menu
I’d just arrived in Jerusalem two hours early for a meeting at lunch time, and walked around the Machne Yehuda area looking for somewhere to have a snack. Eventually I sort of fell into this place on Bet Ya'acov Street, and ended up having an absolutely divine lunch. The girl at the door asked me if I had booked and when I said I had not, she anyway found a seat for me at one of the bars – with the understanding that I would have to vacate in one hour’s time. Machneyuda is a fabulously run bistro style bar restaurant, with seating at various bars and tables, and an open kitchen filled with a team of seriously busy chefs. The atmosphere "rocks" and the food!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'd only wanted a snack, but ended up having two small starters - a baby pot of creamy light polenta with stewed field mushrooms and baby green asparagus tips, and another baby pot with a ravioli stuffed with minced Serrano Ham and melted Manchego cheese - and a main course of braised oxtails with turnips a...