A new Jerusalem Boutique Restaurant, Butchery and Deli run by the former Head of Butchery for ‘Dan’ hotels offers a truly unique meat experience, featuring a rich and surprising restaurant menu with a French infusion and an enormous variety of meat and meat-related products. In short, it’s a place every meat lover simply must check out!
From Paris with Love: Among the alleyways of a historic Jerusalem neighborhood surrounded by arches of Jerusalem stone, somewhere between the second and third lockdown, a real piece of Europe has appeared under the radar, in the heart of Jerusalem’s ‘Baka’ neighborhood. It’s a truly unique culinary gem called “Le-Charolais” that offers a particularly delicious (and kosher!) quality meat experience inspired by French cuisine. This is an original concept, and it combines an active first-class butcher shop, a boutique meat restaurant and a unique deli in one place that seems to have everything there is to offer for an unforgettable meat meal.
Both the flavors and the atmosphere of the place provide a unique experience that is probably unmatched anywhere else in the country. Under the hands of Marco and Leon Abitbul, an Israeli-French father and son, for whom meat is a family tradition that goes back five generations, a world of quality meat has been created at Le-Charolais – a combination of a taste experience influenced by the best of the French tradition with strict adherence to uncompromising accuracy and quality, down to the smallest detail, merging with an atmosphere that is all about trendy chic.
The head chef who runs the kitchen is Marco Abitbul, who was until recently the head butcher of the Dan Hotels and the butcher of the Waldorf Astoria, as well as a butchery teacher. He decided to retire and invest all his energy and talent in a butcher shop and a family boutique restaurant where he works from morning to evening alongside his two sons.
“We were born into this,” says Leon Abitbul, son of Marco Abitbul. “All our lives, we have lived and breathed butcheries. Dad really goes to sleep and wakes up with ‘meat on his mind’ for as long as I can remember.”
How did you come up with the current concept?
“For a long time, we went back and forth with the idea of starting our own meat business. During the COVID period, we decided to realize those ideas, hoping that despite the ongoing instability, a food business would remain open in any case, so we started out as a butchery and deli.”
But today, it looks a lot more like a restaurant than a butcher shop.
“We have special and prestigious cuts of meat here, and people started asking for a taste before purchasing, and as soon as we decided to satisfy these requests, the phenomenon quickly spread. Our customers kept coming back and started to request ready-made dishes, and some of them preferred to dine in the shop.”
What is your favorite dish?
“It’s a tough question. There are a few. But probably the ‘Parisian tray.’ This is a platter of delicacies, and it’s a special dish that only we serve.”
So, what is on the menu?
That depends on the meat experience you are looking for. For those who are looking for the ingredients for a luxury meal that will please and astound the guests at home, one can purchase everything needed to create a first-class meat meal, including a wide variety of quality meat from the butcher shop along with a variety of original toppings, side dishes and salads to create a perfect meal. The local deli offers over 100 types of salads and original toppings. All ingredients, by the way, are imported from France and are certified kosher.
Alternatively, one may skip all the cooking, just sit back and enjoy a large variety of unique meat dishes prepared by Le-Charolais’ meat experts - directly from the butcher’s fresh meat alongside a glass of good wine and a magical Parisian atmosphere in the heart of a historic neighborhood in Jerusalem. Le-Charolais features a rich menu in which, along with traditional and conservative dishes, there is a variety of unique dishes, such as a platter of lunch meats (cold cuts) – all hand-made – served alongside a fine authentic French baguette.
With the entry of the Wolt delivery service in Jerusalem, the restaurant has formulated a unique delivery menu and is currently one of the leading restaurants in the service, with a ranking of 9 in the satisfaction category.
Tip: try the ‘Parisian Baguette.’
Address: 84 Derekh Bet Lechem St., JerusalemOpening hours: Sun - Thu: 8:00 AM - 9:00 PM, Friday: 8:00 AM - 3:00 PMKosher