If you mention Ticho House, everybody knows there is a good restaurant. The name is Anna Italian Cafe. The place is named after the hostess of Tichno House, Anna. The service and atmosphere here is so wonderful that you will forget how expensive the meal is! The dishes here look humble but they are surprisingly good! Different than what you’d expect! I think that’s the charm of this place, or the hostess Anna!
Location
Anna Italian Cafe is inside Ticho House, on the top floor. Ticho was a doctor, this house was one of the first houses that were built outside the walls of Jerusalem. There was a lot of conflict between Arabs and Jews during British Mandate. His eye was hurt in one of the riots, so he practiced at his house. His wife Anna was a painter. After they died, this mansion was donated to Israeli museum.
It’s nicely painted inside. You can still feel that this house has a lot of histories. The place is crowded but the atmosphere was quite pleasant.
Open kitchen! The staff was courteous and greeted us the curious tourists during their busy work.
Menu and Dishes
Anna would have looked like this during the day.
The menu that I took. A proper menu can be found on Anna’s website. I would love to come back here for breakfast, for 44NIS, or 2 for 130NIS.
For dinner, we tried these
- Focaccia, Olive oil, Balsamic vinegar, Chili, Garlic confit 18 NIS
- Green Salad, Salnova, Endive, Almonds, Danablu, Honey mustard vinaigrette 56 NIS
- Caprese, Tomatoes, Mozzarella,Basil, Balsamic Reduction 56 NIS
- Margarita, Mozzarella, Tomatoes, Basil 58 NIS
- ANNA Bianca 2.0, Sunchokes, Mozzarella, Herbs, Arugulla, Grana Padno 64 NIS
- “Tartuffo”,Linguini, Sage Browen Butter, Mushrooms, Truffle Oil 76 NIS
- Salmon, Pomme Puree, Roasted tomatoes, Broccoli, Gremolata 94 NIS
And desserts! Muah~
- Tiramisu 40 NIS
- Chocolate mousse 44NIS
- Lemon Tart 42 NIS
- Panna Cotta 42 NIS
My mouth was drooling simply by reading the menu, though I hardly knew what we ordered. Haha! Fortunately there aren’t too many options here, otherwise it would have taken the whole night.
Focaccia, Olive oil, Balsamic vinegar, Chili, Garlic confit 18 NIS. Freshly baked garlic bread! It was tasty with vinegar.
Green Salad, Salnova, Endive, Almonds, Danablu, Honey mustard vinaigrette 56 NIS. Well, it looks bad on photo but it’s the second best salad I ever had in Israel! My brother told me that plants are still alive in the first 24 hours being picked from the ground. And yes, this vegetable was alive! So fresh! This is worth trying!
Caprese, Tomatoes, Mozzarella,Basil, Balsamic Reduction 56 NIS, this is ‘okay’ because cherry tomatoes is common in Taiwan.
Margarita, Mozzarella, Tomatoes, Basil 58 NIS. Wow, this pizza will make you cry! The crust was perfect! As soon as you finish this, you want another one!
Anna Bianca 2.0 Sunchokes, Mozzarella, Herbs, Arugulla, Grana Padno 64 NIS, it is good, but it cannot compare to the pizza above.
“Tartuffo”,Linguini, Sage Browen Butter, Mushrooms, Truffle Oil 76 NIS , everything was perfect! Truffle oil was special! This is worth trying!
Salmon, Pomme Puree, Roasted tomatoes, Broccoli, Gremolata 94 NIS, personally I think it is good for value. But you don’t necessarily have to order salmon in Anna. 
We enjoyed those dishes in Anna, so we decided to try their desserts!
Tiramisu 40 NIS, just like Tiramisu I had in Italy, very authentic!
Chocolate mousse 44 NIS, I think it is just ‘okay’, maybe that’s because I’m not a big fan of chocolate!
Lemon Tart 42 NIS , this was ‘wow!’ Sweet and sour, perfectly balanced. This one is a must-try!
Panna Cotta 42 NIS, I think this is good for value because of the serving size. It goes with cookie crumbs and jam. A happy ending!
At first we didn’t think we would go to Anna Italian’s Cafe because you can have Italian food pretty much everywhere in the world. But this place was close to our hotel and we were lazy. Since the rating was pretty high, we came here. And then we discovered that even though we thought we knew Italian food, Anna successfully revolutionized our senses! I would say that Italian food that I had in Italy was only about 80% as tasty as this place!
I think Anna succeeds because of righ ingredient, right cooking method and right atmosphere! This was a perfect dinner that we had in Jerusalem!
Final Verdict
If you have enough budget, yes, choose Anna! Everything was good! You can order a pizza and salad for 120NIS. And if you order Focaccia, drinks and a dessert (lemon tart!), then the bill will be around 200NIS for two. It’s more than satisfactory in terms of taste, atmosphere and service, even if you think you know Italian food!
Good News？
There’s a discount website in Israel called Beteavone. I once saw a deal of Anna there~ If you ever see great discount like this, then don’t hesitate and go to Anna!
