Though hummus had arrived to our shores long before, Palestinian-born Basil Ziadeh claims to have been the first to bring his homeland’s dishes to Dublin when he opened the much-loved Little Jerusalem in Rathmines in 2009. He was also behind Damascus Gate before selling it in order to open Jerusalem on Camden Street earlier this year.
Little Jerusalem is known for its Palestinian and Lebanese food, its fresh housemade naan bread and its cozy interior. It ain’t called ‘Little’ just for the craic. “I wanted to open Jerusalem,” Basil tells us, “to create the same cozy atmosphere we have in Little Jerusalem in a bigger space.” He has brought one of his chefs with him to Camden Street but the staff are, on the whole, a brand new team that Ziadeh is training in.
We can tell on our Saturday night visit, when a full house leaves the service slow and, at times, confused. Our waitresses are under pressure but deal with it gracefully and we hope it’s just teething issues, because the food is pretty good. My manakeesh bilzatar (€7.50), a Palestinian pizza laden down with the aromatic thyme and sesame seed mixture, gets us off to a good start even if it is a little too heavy on the za’atar. Shakshouka is ordered (€7.99) and we expect to get baked eggs sitting neatly atop a spicy tomato sauce. Instead, an unattractive mound of scrambled shakshouka arrives, the egg having been stirred into the sauce in a way I haven’t seen before. To our complete surprise, it’s really tasty.
Mashawi Mushakla (€15.99) is cited as a speciality of the house and it’s a dish Ziadeh has brought with him from Rathmines. A sort of mixed plate of koftas, there are heavily aromatic chunks of lamb and chicken to work through with sides of hummus and tabouleh served alongside spicy harissa and cool tahini sauces.
My lamb mezza (€15) has all of the old favourites; good hummus and baba ghanoush, crispy fatoosh salad, parsley-heavy tabouleh and a scattering of olives and feta cheese. The highlight on the plate, however, is the flaky pastry encrusted lamb samosas.
Our Harissa cake (€5) is a polenta sponge-style cake, sticky and sweet. It’s puzzlingly hot and I wonder if room temperature would perhaps be more complimentary to this cake.
What’s missing is Little Jerusalem’s housemade bread. We’re given baskets of perfectly fine, thin, Arabic bread but I was hoping to see the fluffy naan that Little Jerusalem is so well known for. Ziadeh assures me the housemade bread is on its way to Jerusalem, citing technical difficulties and wiring issues within the new premises as the reason for the delay.
They have a short but functional wine list but most of our fellow diners were availing of the BYO option. We bring our own too and, along with a cardamom tea (with fresh pods and all for €3.30), our bill comes to €54.78.
Jerusalem is a much bigger space than its little sister restaurant and it’s clear the team are adjusting to what that means to their service. Once that bread oven gets delivered and set up, they’ll be on their way to recreating what works well for them in their Rathmines kitchen. Following that, it’s up to the team to create the same cozy, atmosphere at the same level of friendly, efficient service.
The food is above average for Dublin’s Middle Eastern offering but it still doesn’t wow me in the way that I know this regional food can. I’m still searching for the perfect mezza in Dublin – I want deep flavours that carry me away to the souks of the Middle East – and I was hoping I’d find it in Jerusalem. But, it seems for now my search continues.
Jerusalem
77 Lower Camden Street
Dublin 2
01-4244001
Words: Aoife McElwain
