Enjoy Life, Eat Well at East Jerusalem’s Small Cafés

By Elaine Pasquini; Photos by Phil Pasquini


	Hamed Shalloudi takes a break at Abu Al-Ez Sandwiches; and Geo’s Espresso Bar.

DESPITE THE declining value of the dollar and rising food prices around the world, visitors to East Jerusalem can still enjoy reasonably priced delicious meals.

A longtime haunt of locals on Abu Obeidah Street a few doors down from Orient House and just around the corner from the American Colony Hotel, Abu Al-Ez Sandwiches is a popular combination café-deli-convenience store. Famous for its delicious sausages (hakank), the eatery is open 24 hours, offers free delivery to local hotels and businesses, and provides outdoor seating in a covered walkway.

Café Himo, located a few yards inside the Old City’s Damascus Gate, is the perfect spot to drink coffee and enjoy a snack in an open-air setting while watching the world go by. Black-suited, somber-faced Orthodox Jews scurry to pray at the Western Wall, gallabiya- and keffiyeh-clad Muslims pass by on their way to noon prayers on the Haram Al-Sharif, while Americans and Europeans in T-shirts and shorts wander down the steps in front of the café on their treks through the souq.

Rimon Himo has been serving moderately priced meals to customers for 24 years. His scrumptious chicken plate for 50 NIS—about $15—includes a salad and a soft drink. This Armenian Christian establishment even serves beer, a rarity in the predominantly Muslim neighborhood.

Resembling the popular California coffeehouses Starbucks, Peet’s and Tully’s, Geo’s Espresso Bar opened in April at the corner of Muristan Road and Dabbagha Street. George Makhlouf and his young staff serve an array of hot and cold drinks, salads, sandwiches, pastries and even an English breakfast. In the summer, the “iced Geo,” a sweet frappuccino-like concoction of blended coffee, milk and ice, is a favorite with tourists who stop by for a rest between shopping and sightseeing. Potted palms surround the four tables outside the cafe. The interior sports a few tables and a sleek Italian-style granite coffee bar.

And, of course, visitors can still enjoy the ultimate inexpensive snack available from vendors in East Jerusalem’s streets and alleyways, the fresh-baked elongated bagel-shaped sesame seed-encrusted ka’ak with spicy za’atar!

Elaine Pasquini is a free-lance journalist based in the San Francisco Bay Area.