Amir Nahari wonders where everyone is rushing to as he sits back and relaxes at Coffee Shop looking out at the busting Jerusalem street. As he wonders he also enjoys a salad and a quiche, but it’s the chocolate cake that moves him the most.
Coffee Shop hasn’t been a small anonymous café for a while, but a large quality coffee chain with locations all over the city of Jerusalem. We headed into the Coffee Shop location on Rachel Imaynu Street, my partner and I, after a short stroll along the main street in the German Colony. Coffee Shop is located very centrally, on the corner of Emek Refaim and Rachel Imaynu, with windows facing the boisterous and people filled streets. There is something addictive about relaxing at a café while staring out at the people going by. You always find yourself wondering where all those people are hurrying off to and forgetting that only a few moments previous you too were hurrying to the bank, or home from work or off to any number of places.
Left of Coffee Shop’s entrance is a transparent curtain on the other side of which is the smoking section, so that if you like cigarettes and food, not necessarily in that order, you too can enjoy a stay at this café. My partner and I sat down at a table between the bar and the entrance, and immediately noticed that they sell thermal cups, a large selection of macchinettas, coffee and more. The diverse menu meanders from breakfasts to salad and sandwiches to pastas, fish and wonderful desserts. We’d already decided that we wanted a light meal, so we ordered a single starter to share. That was the green salad with breaded fingers of halumi cheese; a large dish made up of lettuce, peppers, capers, cherry tomatoes, fresh mushrooms, and on all this, the cheese. Our polite waitress also placed two types of dressing on the table, classic vinaigrette and thousand islands. The rich salad also came with two types of bread, white and black, and butter.
After ordering the Coffee Shop’s mushroom quiche, made of puff pastry and accompanied by a small salad similar to the halumi, but with the cheese replaced by black olives, I asked if I could also get a bowl of olive tapanade, and was answered quickly and positively. In addition to the quiche we ordered shakshuka with feta cheese, which was a little watery so it encouraged us to use the bread. Despite our best intentions towards the soft bread, we just couldn’t resist the dessert platter presented by our waiter, just a short time after she efficiently cleared our table of the remnants of our main courses. On Coffee Shop’s dessert tray sat various enticing mini desserts, each in its own special way, and after vacillation and an exchange of glances, I decided to decide and I ordered us a fat slice of chocolate cake with crunchy chocolate bits and white and milk chocolate scattered over top. We ate the dessert in silence, each one of concentrating on his next bite, which was always tastier than the last. And so again we left with full bellies, despite our earlier resolution to eat a light meal at Coffee Shop.
Coffee Shop
2 Rachel Emaynu Street, The German Colony, Jerusalem
Tel: 02-5632529
