On a recent warm summer evening, together with my companion, I set out to explore the Skyline Jerusalem restaurant, located in the Jerusalem Gardens Hotel, in the Kiryat Moshe hotel district near the Chords Bridge at the entrance to Jerusalem.
The hotel lobby was thrumming with the sounds of guests – mostly families with children – enjoying the midsummer break after Tisha B’av, and the wait for the elevator took several minutes. But the minor discomfort of the noise and the cramped elevators was outweighed by the lovely view from the restaurant, which is perched atop the 12th floor. The full-length windows provided a stunning view of the city, including the numerous construction cranes dotting the skies.
As of this writing, the hotel’s elevators and the restaurant’s restrooms are being renovated, requiring diners to go down to the lobby to use the facilities. When the need arose during the meal, I chose to climb the 12 flights back up rather than wait for the elevator – a fair trade-off, considering how much we had eaten.
My companion and I were seated at the outdoor VIP table, which presented an even more accessible view of the city.
The manager told us that the restaurant has been in business for about 12 years and recently appointed a new chef, Israel Miretzky, who has introduced an innovative menu.
Miretzky's innovative menu
The meal began with the artisanal chef’s bread, which arrived with a selection of dips, including spiced olive oil, a dip of the day, and, most unusual, cured cherries aioli, which was sweet, tart, and refreshing.
Next on the starters menu were tasty filet medallions, served with garlic, tehina, caramelized apricots, maitake mushrooms, truffle ash, charcoal, and tuile.
What particularly struck my fancy was the chicken and waffles appetizer, which featured a Belgian waffle, battered chicken, maple butter, sriracha cream, blood orange, blueberries, popcorn powder, and fenugreek snow. It sounds odd, but it was a delicious combination of sweet, fruity, and chicken flavors.
My dinner companion favored the sushi delicatessen, which consisted of phyllo dough, oyster cut, baby chicken, soy caramel, candied ginger, garlic chips, whole grain tehina, toasted nori, and wasabi dust, and we both enjoyed the tomato salad with croutons, oregano, and sesame vinaigrette, in a cabernet reduction.
By this point, we were quite sated, but soldiered on and asked the staff to bring a couple of entrées to sample.
The first dish that we tasted was the lamb shank, served inside a brioche-style bread mounted on the bone, in a delicious root vegetable cream sauce, along with chili confiture, pine nuts, grilled green tomatoes, toffee and balsamic reduction, and baby cilantro.
While neither of us is a lamb lover, the meaty, breaded kebab was complemented nicely by the cool cream sauce.
The second dish that was brought to our table was the Cowboy Cut, a tomahawk steak served with potatoes, rosemary and oregano compound butter, and a flaming olive branch. The olive branch was not brought afire, but the meat was quite good.
The young, energetic, and attentive waitstaff was kind enough to provide us with a glass of wine from the Tanya Winery – the restaurant offers specific wines paired with the dishes and also supplied two complimentary cocktails.
All that remained was dessert. We devoured the lemon pie, which offered a sweet and lemony ending to the meal, and sampled the fruit ice cream pie, which was tasty but a bit less impressive than the lemon pie.
Following dinner, we opted to walk down the 12 flights of stairs. It was the least we could do after eating such an indulgent repast.
I would heartily recommend the Skyline Jerusalem for a celebratory dinner or business meal. While it is not inexpensive, the prices for a meal, including appetizer, main course, and dessert, are not stratospheric.