David 16: A delicious respite - review

After years of writing restaurant reviews, I’ve come to believe that the way the place makes you feel is just as important as the quality of the food. Walking into the new David 16 restaurant in Jerusalem makes you feel taken care of. The design is beautiful, with dark wood tables and recessed lighting. A large bar takes up one wall of the restaurant, and there is plenty of room between tables to enable conversation. It also features a wine and cigar room.

I went there with my foodie son Netanel just before he was due to start another round of reserve duty in Gaza, so it was a special treat to spend some time with him.

“The idea is a meat restaurant with Mediterranean accents,” Avshalom Cohen, one of the partners in the restaurant, told me.

The menu is relatively small, but there is something for everyone, including vegetarians and vegans. After Netanel and I each ordered an appetizer, Cohen added a few other starters he wanted us to taste. Each dish had little touches and additions that raised it above the ordinary.

The server suggested the Jerusalem artichoke appetizer (NIS 68), which was a large portion of artichoke with a cashew labane and za’atar schug – a unique dish that I highly recommend. We also tried the yellowtail sashimi (NIS 85), which looked like a painting, with leche de tigre, literally “tiger’s milk,” which is a citrus marinade used to cure fish, along with a green apple and celery salsa. It was an explosion of flavors.

I was a little disappointed in the grilled eggplant carpaccio with grape honey, thyme, and roasted almonds (NIS 62). It was a bit bland.

There are seven main courses – three fish dishes; a dish of grilled boneless chicken thighs; and three steak dishes. While the kashrut of the restaurant is Jerusalem Rabbinate, haredi (ultra-Orthodox) diners can get a rib eye steak with stricter kashrut, such as Mahpud or Halak Beit Yosef. I suggest calling the restaurant to confirm before you arrive.

Cohen suggested the veal fillet (NIS 215), which came with mashed potatoes and a wine sauce. While obviously expensive, it was a large portion cooked medium rare and very tender. He said the meat is bought fresh in Israel rather than imported frozen from Argentina or Uruguay and is aged in the restaurant. The potatoes were smooth and had a lot of flavor, but I was so full by that point that I couldn’t eat them.

While I was also too full for dessert, Netanel managed a chocolate creation that was a rich combination of flavors and textures.

The restaurant, with its relatively high prices and location near the King David and David Citadel hotels, would definitely appeal to kosher-eating tourists, who have still not returned to Israel in large numbers. Cohen said that while he would love to see tourists return to Israel and especially to the new restaurant, “We’re in it for the long haul.”