Manou Bashouk


by Sybil Kaplan
Photographs by Barry Kaplan
Manou Bashouk
 Address -- 29 Etz Haim, Machane Yehuda
Phone -- 02 622-8675
Hours -- Sunday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday, 9 a.m. to one hour
before Shabbat begins
Kashrut -- Rabbinute Yerushalayim; meat - Halek bet Yosef; vegetables Gush Katif
Manou Saadia was born in Lebanon, in what he describes as "from many generations of Lebanese." When he was six years old, his family moved to France where he lived for 20 years. The next 23 years, he worked in the import/export business in Hong Kong. In 2011, he and his wife and three children moved to Israel.
"I liked the shuk very much and we said, let's do something here--but we didn't know what.
My mother had written a cookbook of Lebanese recipes in French, so we decided to use her recipes and open a restaurant."
In June 2013, Manou Bashouk opened--a charming restaurant up a step, enclosed by a wrought iron fence. Wood tables and chairs are outside, inside and in a back room, seating a total of 45. There is a beautiful and colorful tile floor; in the main room is a large taboon with a brick wall backdrop. (A taboon is a clay oven shaped like a truncated cone with open bottom where fuel is inserted.)
What makes Lebanese food special? Manou replies.  "It's Middle Eastern influence but it is more refined, not heavy,  the food my mother cooked!"
The menu,which is outside on the patio wall, has the names in English and photographs.
The regular Hebrew-English menu lists 3 choices for breakfast; 6 salads; 7 soups; 21 main dishes; 10 side dishes; 2 desserts; and drinks. There are 31 vegetarian dishes, 23 gluten free and 19 which are both vegetarian and gluten free.
All dishes we tried were photographed as full portions.
The first salad Manou brought us was Lebanese Tabuleh (NIS 28) consisting of bulgur and minced green onions, mint, and parsley, with a lemon juice/olive oil dressing. It was minced nicely, served cold and you could taste all of the ingredients.
The most well-known Lebanese dish was next--Lachmeh b'gine or pizza with meat and no cheese (NIS42). Onion, red pepper, ground beef and pomegranate concentrate were cooked on thin pita in the shape of a pizza. This was then garnished with a chopped Israeli salad and tchina and cut into 8 slices, making for a delightful eating experience.
The Taboon Eggplant with Sesame Cream (NIS36) featured an eggplant whose side was cut to form an open lid. Inside was chopped meat, pine nuts, garlic, tchina, and mushrooms, garnished with parsley. This is definitely a dish for tchina lovers! We were impressed with the distinctive presentation of the eggplant with the lid, as well as the unique taste.
A khidra is a pottery pot with a lid. Lebanese khidra is baked rice with vermicelli, meat, cabbage, celery, carrots, zucchini, chick peas and flavored with cardamom (NIS 62). It is served inside the khidra, laying on its side with the lid on top. This is garnished with a chopped salad and topped with tchina. The khidra is then placed on a silver tray. The flavoring is very subtle and the spices are subtle as well, making it particularly appetizing. The presentation is quite unique.
One could not leave without tasting the Lebanese Malabi (NIS30) usually made with milk. Here, it is pareve, made with soy milk, coconut milk and corn starch, in a round mold to firm it up. The round malabi sits atop a sauce made with rosewater and coconut. Pleasant tasting and not too sweet, it is a refreshing conclusion to these dishes.
"We are very happy we opened the restaurant," says Manou who was the chef in the beginning. "Everything is home made and people like it. We buy everything in the shuk." Now he has hired a chef, but he still supervises how mother's dishes are made.
If you want to combine delicious Middle Eastern cuisine, different from the more familiar Middle Eastern food, with the atmosphere of the shuk, Manou Bashouk is a great place to try.

The writer and photographer were guests of the restaurant.

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