Restaurant review: Savory Meat Skewers and Hamburgers at Shapeduni

“Rapduni B’tapuchim” translates as “Refresh me with apples” from the Song of Songs, Chapter 2.

Anyway, as I sank into my chair on the second floor of the brand-new Shapeduni, I thought about how nice it is to be able to go to a restaurant again. Some of you remember that about a month ago I wrote how much I enjoyed having restaurant food delivered to my house, but there is something special about getting dressed up and actually going out. And as this restaurant is in the shuk in Jerusalem’s Mahaneh Yehuda, I took the bus instead of trying to find parking.

Shapeduni is owned by Almog Orgad, 24, who despite his young age, has years of experience in restaurants and catering halls. He says he invested 3.5 million shekels in Shapeduni, “and I’m not done yet.”

The two-story restaurant, which also has tables outside, has clean, modern lines and exposed brick. The dishes are black ceramic and aesthetic. Orgad says he hopes to make the basement a wine cellar.

The chef is Elad Cohen who has worked in dozens of restaurants in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. I asked him to choose my meal for me from the extensive menu.

From the long list of appetizers, Cohen brought us the chicken wings (NIS 45), a 350-gram portion of wings that had been smoked, and served in a sweet and spicy chili sauce with pineapple. Others that looked interesting were a carpaccio filet, arais of either meat or fish, and a chicken liver pâté. For my vegan friend Estelle there is fried cauliflower in a tempura batter served with tehina and amba.

There is a section of hamburgers, all served in a black bun, which is really cool-looking, although it didn’t taste any different to me. My husband and I shared the “yacht burger” (NIS 86), the most expensive of the burgers, which was made of both entrecote and veal, and was served a touch under medium, which is how I think a hamburger should be served. It came with hot, fresh potato wedges that were delicious.

We also had a custom-made shipud that included a delicious kebab, piece of pargit, and piece of entrecote that was slightly overdone. All of the meat is from Argentina, and is imported frozen. All steaks are aged at least a month.

Shipudim come with eight salads and range in price from NIS 65 for chicken to NIS 120 for filet steak.

There are also aged steaks available, which I didn’t try, but plan to when I return. Shapeduni is a step above most steakiyot in Jerusalem, and I thought prices were reasonable for the quality of the food.

The restaurant will be kosher for Passover. Reservations are suggested.