In the alley of Jerusalem’s new town, you will see Kangaroo Georgian Restaurant. This is not a kosher restaurant, and you can find pork here…! The owner of this restaurant comes from Georgia. It was interesting to know that her family is Christian (common for Georgian Jews)! The price range was about 70-100NIS. Or you can go for business lunch, which is good for value!
Location
Kangaroo Georgian Restaurant is located in a small alley. When you see Mike’s Place from Jaffa Street, turn right and go down the alley. It’s located next to the first synagogue that was built outside the walls of Jerusalem.
This restaurant is one of those old Jerusalem houses, made by Jerusalem stone. Rent is expensive in Jerusalem, so the space is limited. There are about 9 table there for a maximum of 25-30 people. It’s very private.
Menu and Dishes
This is the menu! If you like cheese, go to “Khachapuri” section on the right. That’s the iconic dish one has to try in Georgian cuisine.
We ordered these, these vocabularies are too foreign! I haven’t heard of them before :
- Salad Lina 79 NIS
- Mushroom Soup 29 NIS
- Khachapuri Imeruli 67 NIS
- Khachapuri Adjaruli (comes with raw egg) 62 NIS
- Khinkali (Giant dumplings) 69 NIS
- Odjakhuri (pork and potato stew) 82 NIS
- Chakapuli (lamb stew) 85 NIS
- 烤羊肉 Shashlik veal 79 NIS
Drinks and Desserts on the other page
Business lunch (12:30-16:30), note that it is Monday to Thursday only. (This place closes on Sundays because the owner is Christian ) The price was 62-72NIS, and it includes salad, bread, soup, kebab or Khachapuri, then tea. I think that’s a good deal for Jerusalem!
Here comes the food! Salad Lina 79 NIS , there are 7 types of salad and the portion was huge. But I’m not a big fan of Asian salads (even though I’m Asian myself). This didn’t appeal to me. Bread was complimentary.
I only took a bite for each…
Mushroom Soup 29 NIS, I had become used to Israeli quantity. So this soup came surprisingly small. Soup was thick, not bad.
Khachapuri Imeruli 67 NIS! Traditional cheese bread, made by Georgian cheese! You will taste authentic Georgian cheese only from here! But then again, I’m not a big fan of cheese. Haha! This was okay.
The other type of Georgia cheese bread. This one is Khachapuri Adjaruli 62 NIS! It looks like a boat, with a raw egg on top of cheese! You are supposed to cut the cheese with a knife and fork closely to the crust, and then mix raw egg and cheese. It’s very fulfilling, and I like it very much! It was delicious! But I think the cheese was too salty for me. (otherwise it’s perfect)
What happened when most of crust was eaten to balance the saltiness…. a flood of Georgian cheese..! Haha! If you are used to having this type of salty cheese, then I think you might enjoy it.
Khinkali 69 NIS , Georgian version of giant dumplings. We have this type of dumpling in Chinese cuisine. I actually had Kinkali in another Georgian restaurant, and it tasted just as good here! This is the signature dish here, so try it out! (If your budget allows you…. I found 5 dumplings for $20 quite expensive because this thing is would cost 20% in my country)
Odjakhuri 82 NIS, basically pork and potato. This was good! All I need is a bowl of rice! This tasted like my type of food.
Chakapuli 85 NIS, lamb stew. I don’t eat lamb, so I have no idea how it tasted.
Shashlik veal 79 NIS, only 2 skeweres. I found this expensive ($27). But I heard that it was very good.
So, without any alcohol drink, it cost 100NIS per head. This is a normal price for a restaurant in this category, expensive for non-locals, but there are restaurants even more expensive than this. Service is 10% added to the bill.
Final Verdict
Depends on your budget. There aren’t too many places in this world where you can try Georgian food. And rent is expensive in Jerusalem. For the taste, it is yummy! For value, it’s not what this place is about. Oh! The owner was a lot of fun!
