After 45 years, the iconic Eucalyptus restaurant – founded by chef Moshe Basson under a tree he had planted in Talpiot at age 12 – is closing its doors at the end of February. Despite the 75-year-old chef’s plans to continue, the restaurant known for its biblical ingredients and indigenous Israeli plants will soon serve its final meal.
The breakout of the Oct. 7 war, which ironically coincided with the release of Basson’s Eucalyptus Cookbook, has seen a decline in tourism and with that, waning restaurant patrons. Basson says that although a serious investor was brought to the table, with even Mayor Moshe Lion advocating for the deal, the new business plan was rejected by the company affiliated with the municipality.
The decision is purely business, according to Basson.
“I cannot deny that this company was encouraging, but the arnona [municipal tax] is NIS 24,000 per month,” he explains. “For the past two years, they didn’t charge rent because they didn’t give me a long-term contract. From March 2024, I have been required to pay arnona only. It was a cool calculation on their part. Post-war, the space would have been just another shut-down building, and they would have been responsible for the arnona.”
Though Basson doesn’t rule out an investor coming along to save the restaurant from closure, he admits he needs a well-earned break to recuperate “body and soul” – even if just for a while. But he says the break will not find him sleeping.
“I plan to be available for lectures, book tours all around the world, as well as to cook for events, group demonstrations, and travel for food and book events,” he says. “It will be business and pleasure together.”
Quirky Facebook food and lifestyle reviewer Shimshon Leshinsky, with 200,000 readers in eight Facebook groups, says Eucalyptus is an “institution,” and that the announced closure is “huge news.”
“I heard about it yesterday, and the news is causing shock waves in restaurants’ communities,” Leshinsky confirms, although he wasn’t surprised to hear about it. “The writing was on the wall. Interviews indicated that business was slow and that his restaurant had had a lot less business.”
Declining number of tourists because of war
Musing over why the restaurant is closing, Leshinsky points out that even though tourism has declined since the war, over 400,000 Americans have come to Israel since the war began. Even still, he says, that number is relatively less than in previous years. He admits that although Eucalyptus is an expensive restaurant, all good restaurants are expensive, and while the location is a little difficult to access, it is a beautifully scenic and historic one.
Not only has the restaurant become a landmark for authentic, historic, and locally sourced dining in Jerusalem, but celebrities and politicians such as prime minister Shimon Peres, Seinfeld’s Jason Alexander (George Costanza), actors Blair Underwood and Deborah Messing, astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, countless senators and congresspersons, and “Chef of the Century” Joel Robuchon have enjoyed the dishes like King Solomon couscous, mallow cooked with wild spices, and red lentil stew served in a rustic stone vessel. Peres had commented, “This was my first time ‘eating the Bible,’ not just reading it – and I find it particularly tasty.”
Leshinsky says Eucalyptus is known for its original, fun dishes like Maklouba chicken and rice. “Guests turn over [the dish] in a type of ceremony. The tasting menus are great, and the décor is like a museum. I sincerely hope he finds an investor to help him continue.”
Basson says that while the company is showing the beautiful stone building and courtyard serving customers on three levels to other chefs seeking space, many have demurred, saying this space was branded by Basson and they couldn’t take it over.
Basson has been featured 15 times in The New York Times and headlined in The Jerusalem Post for an event featuring every kosher animal, including grasshoppers. The grasshoppers even got covered in an Al Jazeera story. His green shakshuka recipe was featured in the illustrious 700 Club TV show, and American cookbook author and journalist Joan Nathan reprinted seven of his recipes. Food & Wine magazine chose Eucalyptus for its millennial issue.
Debbie Kandel, an Israeli food blogger and event planner, says the tasting menu was a singular feature. Although Eucalyptus, which Kandel classifies as a “themed” restaurant – a biblically, culturally influenced modern Israeli restaurant in an interesting historic location – is not one of her favorite restaurants, she admits, “There is a shortage of themed restaurants and a gap for Moroccan restaurants. The closest thing to another themed restaurant is Salon Yevani, which is Greek and dairy.”
She says Eucalyptus stands out in a city full of steakhouses and a country that has been opening a steady flow of Asian and sushi restaurants. “When people come from abroad, they don’t come to Israel to eat sushi. Tel Aviv has fewer restaurant choices these days.
“In my opinion, a successful restaurant is a combination of the experience and the food,” Kandel says. “Jerusalem has the best selection of kosher restaurants in the country, and they are still opening. I say that not only as someone who lives here but as someone who plans food events. There is a good selection and a good variety of choices.”
She especially enjoys it when her clients say, “I can’t believe that it’s kosher!”
“When a restaurant stands on its merits, not on its hechsher [kosher certification], that’s when you have a winner. I would classify the food at Eucalyptus as traditional, not modern, and Moshe Basson is very much part of the experience.”
Levana Kirschenbaum, acclaimed American restaurateur, cookbook author, and cooking demo teacher, laments the impending closure.
“Eucalyptus was a pure emanation of its formidable polymath owner and chef, Moshe Basson: cook, gardener, forager, memoirist, nostalgist, mentor, and accidental Talmudist all rolled into one. Moshe received diners at his restaurant as effusively as if they were guests in his own home, showering his glorious hospitality on them and regaling them with food-centered anecdotes that bordered on the mystical... I can’t wait to see what Moshe does next.”
When asked about his biblical knowledge and research for his books, Basson says he has a retention for most anything he ever learned.
“In my book, each recipe has a short story,” he explains. “The next book will be about eating like Maimonides. My learning is my memory. I can recognize every customer who comes to my restaurant – I can tell him where he was sitting and with whom.”
And while he does not call himself religious, in a private and intimate moment each morning, he recites the blessing “Shehakol” on the first glass of water – always to thank God. “To have a solid memory is something to be appreciated.”
And as Eucalyptus is poised to become a memory, Basson continues.
“I love this place,” he says sadly. “It’s a hole in the wall. No one was coming to this area. First rule is location, location, location – but we made it a location. Every chef from all over the world came to visit Eucalyptus. If it cannot be in this place, I have to recalculate my course and see what I’m doing.
“Eucalyptus will be in my heart and on my plate forever whenever anyone comes to eat with me, wherever I am.”