Red Heifer Steakhouse

Before lockdown and global isolation my daughter and I managed to get a quick trip in to Israel. We are privileged that in London we have a great choice of high end and also budget kosher restaurants but still enjoy coming to Israel for its own great choice of restaurants. Years and years ago we ate at the red heifer when it was in a different location and throughly enjoyed the great food and reasonable prices. We arrived in Jerusalem in the evening starving and after walking a bit came upon the restaurant in its new location. Yes the location is ideal, almost in front of the king David. The restaurant has also been nicely decorated. Sadly that’s where it ends. A full lockdown was imminent and Jerusalem was empty. We were the only two diners seated in the restaurant. We looked through the menu and I calculated a quick currency conversion. To say I was shocked was an understatement. I have enjoyed fantastic and expensive restaurants in London, Paris and New York but this took things to a new level. However we were tired and hungry so went with it albeit for lower priced items. My daughter ordered the pasta and chicken which was basically pasta olives and chicken shreds. I ordered the hamburger. Probably the most expensive pasta and burger I have ever ordered. I was hoping to see some gold leaf on the burger! However was disappointed. With its pungent flavour of olive, which my daughter actually enjoys, she couldn’t eat more than a few mouthfuls. In an attempt to make the burger more high end. Not sure!.. the meat was not minced but more stringy with parts clearly inedible after chewing on them for sometime. In the end I ate the bun, salad bits and fries and left most of the burger. To be honest we felt really bad for the staff having to work in such miserable times. They did try their best and kept asking us if we were ok. Being the only two diners we did not protest the quality of the food. I am happy to enjoy good food and pay for it. But for what this cost and how this tasted, I would rather have eaten at a falafel stand on king George street and given one of the local charities the hundreds of shekels this meal cost. It’s really sad that with a change in location this restaurant feels they have the right to send their prices through the stratosphere and actually the food has deteriorated. If you have money to waste, clearly many people do, and quality is not really an issue then good luck. Else there are many better places in Jerusalem to eat.