Lifta Restaurant

February 2026.
If the name Eli Davis rings a bell, count yourself among the elite feinshmeckers of the kosher world. Long known as a private chef to the ultra-religious upper crust in Israel and the U.S., Chef Eli now brings his creative, meticulous cuisine to the public at Lifta Restaurant.

Hidden deep inside Jerusalem’s dilapidated Center 1 Mall, Lifta is a refined dining destination where elegant design, bold imagination, and unexpected contrasts come together for a truly memorable culinary experience.

The doors open to a cozy but well-designed entranceway that further opens to an unexpectedly spacious and beautiful restaurant.  The decor is a modern interpretation of the classic Jerusalem design. The lighting, the table settings, the spacing between tables, are all perfect. Hang on, it gets even better.

Chef Eli Davis is a master of playful food presentation, starting from the cocktails. We chose the “Home Run,” a pina colada-style rum-based cocktail. This attractive drink is served in a fluted glass, topped with a whipped-cream like foam that appears very dairy-like but is actually dairy-free whipped coconut cream.  It was a great choice and a home run indeed.

The one-page menu opens with the renowned Chef Eli Davis bread, looking more like kugel than bread. This is the way I imagine homemade farm bread: rustic, earthy, thick crusty chunks served fresh from the oven. The menu continues with six sections beginning with “just a bite” and continuing with starters, cured fish dishes, an intermediate course, main courses and dessert. You have to plan your meal because you’ll want to try everything. In fact, if you want to get to dessert, you had best start there. After all the foods on the menu, I assure you, you will not be able to even think of dessert.

All the dishes at Lifta are made in house with Chef Eli’s original recipes, and supervised by the chef himself. While the restaurant opens at 6, the kitchen has been hard at work from early morning.  The dishes are complex yet precise, and are a delicious confluence of disparate culinary traditions and flavors.

Tongue is a classic eastern European dish. We were charmed by the two breaded Tongue Croquettes that the menu calls “bites” served sushi-style, on a wooden block. Here the chef pairs Eastern European tongue with an Asian presentation and a tangy amba sauce from the Middle Eastern kitchen.  

The flavors of Japanese Sashimi meet the flavors of the Middle East with the addition of coriander and pine nuts. While the combination is startling, the flavors mesh for a very flavorful dish.

Don’t be surprised if you don’t recognize some of the dishes and don’t be embarrassed to ask.

For example: What food is this?

a. a multi colored fish without the head

b. a pancake baked with crayons

c. dessert

d. none of the above

If you said “d”, you are correct. This is an eggplant dish, appropriately called “ChatziLifta” (Lifta Eggplant). This colorful and complex dish is achieved by carefully striping eggplant, techina, red harissa, lemon, and the black outer skin of the charcoal eggplant. The colorful ingredients are added by turn, which gives the crayon effect. Take a big bite of this and all the flavors come together in your mouth. It’s a wow.

You won’t find the chef’s dishes that draw on traditional Eastern European cuisine, in Bubi’s kitchen.  The menu says kreplach, but where is the soup? Lifta kreplach is an open pie-like delicacy with the soup inside the pie. Surprise!

See this reel. It's just like being there

At Lifta the classic kugel Yerushalmi has a healthy portion of meat baked in. This is where the original Jerusalem Kugel meets European Yaptchik, unexpected but oh so good and certainly not to be found at any shul kiddush that I have attended.

The whimsy aside, Lifta is a serious gourmet restaurant with an enormously skilled chef. In addition to the distinct combinations, Chef Eli presents outstanding and delicious traditional no-surprise dishes. The Trout was a most enjoyable skillfully prepared fillet served with a mixture of Swiss Chard and celery. The Lamb Spareribs is the stuff dreams are made of. Chef Eli’s lamb is topped with a sweet glaze that enhances the meat. My companion’s only disappointment was that after all the various “bites,” he could manage only a taste of the lamb! 

After all this elegance,  the duo from Lifta threw us a final curve ball when they told us that Chef Eli Davis, the celebrated “Chef to the stars” runs a wildly popular everyman’s eat-in/take-out T’Cholentia on Thursday nights in another location that brings over 1.500 diners. 

And finally, whether you have enjoyed the elegant Lifta or the T’cholentia, in your Birkat Hamazon you will surely bless Chef Eli Davis “and his table, at which we have just eaten.”

From the menu: Cloud bread NIS 42 Yerushalayim Kugel NIS 81 Kreplach NIS 108 Tongue croquette NIS 88 Lifta eggplant NIS 71 Trout fish NIS 187 Lamb Spareribs NIS 220