Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Food

Happy Fish In Jerusalem — Israel, Day 7

Today Teddy and I spent a solemn afternoon at Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, in Jerusalem. The experience is devastating — and essential. Even having been there before, I will need time to process the visit enough to write a description that might begin to do it justice. I’m thankful that the place exists; that it was built and curated so well; and that I got to bring Teddy, as my mother brought me 28 years ago.

Transitioning from such a sad, meaningful experience to lunch at a place called Happy Fish feels off, but there it is. Before Yad Vashem, Teddy and I drove with our friends Lisa and Eric from Ein Gedi to Jerusalem, where Teddy and I checked into the Mamilla Hotel and had lunch at the hotel’s seafood restaurant. The menu is built around a list of fresh fish that can be prepared grilled, baked or fried (certain fish lend themselves to certain preparations; you can’t get every one each way).

I ordered grilled sea bass, which came cooked to moist perfection, though it wore an expression of extreme irritation. So funny, given the restaurant’s name. The fish was preceded by a selection of delicious meze — a cabbage salad, a “warm hummus,” some roasted vegetables, tzaziki, tabouli and a raw tomato dip. Teddy and I sat outside in the shade and prepared for what promised to be the most intense, educational and interesting leg of a spectacular trip.

Yesterday I promised a description of Machneyuda restaurant, the terrific place in Mahane Yehuda market where we’re dining tonight. Our reservation is for late, so I’ll fill you in tomorrow.

Liza Schoenfein is food editor of the Forward. Contact her at [email protected] or on Twitter, @LifeDeathDinner

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.