Mahane Yehuda: Eating Your Way Through Jerusalem's Market

Mahane Yehuda is the stomach of Jerusalem. Two covered lanes and a web of alleys between Jaffa Road and Agrippas Street, open six days a week, and every hour of the day has a different personality.

Come early, around eight in the morning, and the market belongs to the vendors. Crates are still being stacked, the coffee is strong and cheap, and you can actually hear people. This is the hour for a slow walk: piles of dates and dried apricots, barrels of olives in a dozen cures, halva cut from wheels the size of a car tyre, spice mounds of za'atar, sumac and Baharat, and bakeries pulling out trays of jerusalem bagels and rugelach still sticky from the oven.

By midday the market is loud and packed and that is when you eat. The classics are worth the queue: a plate of hummus with warm pita, kubbeh soup with beetroot broth, a stuffed vegetable plate at one of the old Iraqi and Kurdish kitchens, sabich made with fried aubergine and boiled egg, and a shawarma cut straight off the spit. Save room for a pomegranate juice pressed in front of you and a cardamom coffee.

Friday is the market at full volume. Everyone in Jerusalem is shopping for Shabbat, the vendors shout their prices in rhyme, and by two in the afternoon the whole place is racing to close. Go for the atmosphere, not for a relaxed lunch.

After dark the market changes character completely. The shutters come down, the graffiti portraits painted on them light up, and behind the same shutters small bars and restaurants open. It is one of the best nights out in Jerusalem, and almost none of it existed fifteen years ago.

A few practical notes. The market is closed from Friday evening until Saturday evening. Cash still wins at the smaller stalls. Prices soften in the last hour before closing. And do not plan anything delicate for straight afterwards: you will be full, slightly sticky, and carrying more halva than you meant to buy.

We build the market into our Jerusalem days as a proper stop with tastings rather than a five-minute walk-through. Ask us and we will match the timing to your appetite.