V Rating: VVVVV
Where: 33 Jaffa Road, New Jerusalem, Israel
When:Sun - Thurs: 9.00am - 10.00pm.Fri: 9.00am - 3.00pm
Tel: (02) 6253065
Price: Hot dishes 27 Shekels. Soup 24 Shekels. Bain Marie: Pay by weight (our plate pictured below cost 34 shekels).

In Old Jerusalem you witness a religious experience every five seconds. As an atheist I saved my revelation for Village Green, a vegetarian restaurant located just outside the Jaffa Gate in the bustling heart of New Jerusalem.

In normal circumstances, Village Green might have left a lesser impression on me. It’s a friendly, brightly lit restaurant with an upmarket cafeteria vibe. Diners select their food from a bain marie of “world food”, with a choice of soups, hot pies, pizzas and quiches, and a wide selection of salads and hot dishes. All food is freshly made, and there are many healthy options.

But times were not normal on the day we visited. After taking a hungry eight hours to cross the 90 km border from Jordan into Israel, and deprived of vegetarian staples like tofu for many months, Village Green was a like a mini miracle.

Andy and I each choose a slice of brown pastry pie - curried vegetable for me and spinach and tofu for Andy - to start our meal. The pastry was delicious although the fillings were a little bland. However, kudos to Village Green for using a vegan pie crust.

We also each loaded up a plate with food from the salad bar and hot dishes. I loved the tofu cubes lightly stir fried in soy sauce, but this may have been partly because it was the first hint of soy bean to pass my lips in months. The roast potatoes and fresh brown lentil salad were also highlights. I thought the prices for the hot food and bain marie dishes were steep, (but maybe everything is expensive in Israel).

On later trips we tried the vegetable soup and curried Indian soup (I would call it a dahl). Both were light and pleasant, if not super flavoursome. Better to stick with the bain marie food, in my opinion.

If by some miracle you aren’t full after your first (or second) course, Village Green has a wide selection of tasty looking cakes and slices. Beer, wine and juices are also available, but the price of the alcoholic drinks is enough to make you think twice.

Village Green isn’t trying to break culinary ground, preferring to offer a good spread of reliable world food vegetarian standards. But after months in the Middle East, this may seem innovative enough.

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