I live right next to Machne Yehuda – the Jerusalem shuk, and as much as I love seeing all the new amazing places that keep opening, street food normally includes gluten of some kind so I cannot eat in any of those places. A shame but don’t worry, i don’t suffer!
Up until now, I have stuck to grilled meat because it is the easiest on a FODMAP diet, but tonight I was showing some friends from the US around the shuk and we decided to eat in Michmoret – the fish restaurant by the owners of FishnChips.
It took awhile for the waitress to come over but once she did, she was incredibly helpful and did everything she could to make sure i had an enjoyable meal. The menu is very simple – there is a choice of about 8 types of fish which you can order whole or filleted, grilled or fried. The fish comes with a side or either potatoes or mixed vegetables and a selection of salads and bread to start – all for a set price of 75 NIS which is great value. The vegetables included onion, potatoes and tomatoes – all of which are no good for me – with green beans – so she was happy to just give me green beans.
Make sure to tell them about not eating garlic as they normally put garlic on the grilled fish.
The salads came and she made a special effort to tell me which ones didn’t have onion or garlic in them and put them in front of me. One was cabbage which I didn’t try but I enjoyed the simple kohlrabi salad and the delicious olives while my friends demolished. She also brought me a special portion of bread as the main bread had garlic in, i didn’t have the heart to tell her i couldn’t eat that either.
The fish came with a green salsa on the side which she originally said i could have and only once i had already tried a bit did she come back and say it did have garlic in – but I had luckily only had a small amount. The beans were also covered in sesame seeds – which is not great for me but I ate them anyway.
It happened to be a freezing night outside and their heating wasn’t working and it is very drafty even inside the restaurant but the food was delicious and the service was extra helpful. It was also a treat to enjoy some freshly grilled fish and the best part is how reasonable the price was.
FODMAP friendly score 8/10, foodie score 7/10. I will definitely go back. Kosher.
Single in the Holy City 