When my kids were little, I used to complain that I needed a wife – someone to cook, clean and do laundry – none of which I felt like doing after a long day at work. But what I really needed was a grandmother – preferably Sephardi – who would have warm comfort food ready for me and the kids and beam happily as we consumed it.
Now before you accuse me of anti-Ashkenazi prejudice, I have just five words for you: gefilte fish vs. kubbeh soup. Point made? Now if you, like me, don’t have a Sephardi grandmother available, Rachmo is the next best thing. And they deliver, which many grandmothers can’t do, especially these days.
Rachmo is the oldest restaurant in Jerusalem, and started as a “worker’s restaurant,” offering large portions for hungry workers at lunch. The food is classic comfort food – not gourmet and not fancy but just what you want, especially in the winter. There is lemony kubbeh hamusta soup (NIS 45) (which my daughter snagged before I could taste it and pronounced delicious) and beet-based kubbeh selek soup (NIS 45), its broth a wonderful chartreuse and with delicious kubbeh.
There is moussaka, (NIS 45) which is actually a Greek dish that has become popular in Israel, of ground beef sandwiched between lightly fried slices of eggplant, all in a tomato sauce. It’s one of those dishes that seems like it would be a lot of work to make at home, and Rachmo’s version is excellent.
There are meatballs (NIS 20 each), here in the shape of torpedos, in the same tomato sauce. And of course, there are all the side dishes, rice and beans, okra (that was not slimy at all), majadera, and my favorite, maqluba – yellow rice with pieces of eggplant, potatoes and carrots.
Other main dishes we did not taste include schnitzel (NIS 38) and beef goulash (NIS 55). Portions are very generous, and you’ll almost certainly have leftovers for lunch the next day.
And of course there is the hummus (NIS 38), delivered in a special cardboard container that kept it from getting mushy. Rachmo’s version is heavy on the tehina and the still-warm pitot it came with were a wonderful combination.
So next time it’s cold or rainy out and you’re craving comfort food, Rachmo is the place to turn to.
Rachmo
Ha’eshkol 5, Shuk Mahaneh Yehuda
Hours: Sunday-Thursday 9 a.m.–5 p.m. (Take-away only)
Friday 8 a.m.–2 p.m.
Phone: (02) 623-4595
Kashrut: Rabbanut Jerusalem
The writer was a guest of the restaurant.