Nurah’s Kitchen: Kosher Druze food in Daliyat al-Karmel - restaurant review

I walked around the town, popped into an art gallery, and chatted with merchants, who said they were eagerly waiting for tourism to come back.

Soon it was time for lunch, and I headed to Nurah’s Kitchen, a kosher Druze restaurant on a hill close to the center of town. Prominent Druze chef Nurah Huseisi opened the restaurant 20 years ago and, right from the start, decided she wanted it to be kosher.

“I have a son who is a brigadier general in the army, and another who is high up in the police,” she told me, sounding very much like a proud Jewish mother. “I wanted everyone to be able to eat here.”

While she may sound like a Jewish mother, the food here is Druze, so this is a unique chance for kosher diners to taste Druze cuisine. All I knew about Druze food was the thin laffa breads with labaneh and za’atar that are sold on the side of the road.

Lunch costs NIS 130 per person and includes lemonade, tamarind juice, and tea or coffee. What is most unique about Druze food, said Nurah, is that it is always freshly prepared.

“We make everything fresh every day,” she said, taking me into the spotless kitchen and introducing me to the chefs, all Druze women, who prepare the food.

I enjoy buffets, as I would much rather have a small amount of a lot of different dishes than one main dish. This buffet had about 20 options, which included salads and main dishes.

Let’s start with the bad news. The thin laffot that I had been looking forward to didn’t appear; instead, there were standard pitot.

But other than that, I enjoyed everything I tasted at Nurah’s Kitchen, especially the homemade hummus, the tightly rolled grape leaves, and the mansaf – a dish of meat and rice usually served with yogurt but served here with tehina.

My friend Jenn Lewin, who lives in Haifa, met me at the restaurant, and we had a lovely lunch sitting at a table outside the restaurant.

For dessert there was kata’if, a traditional pancake stuffed with nuts that is usually eaten in Arab homes at the iftar meals during Ramadan.

Nurah’s Kitchen is open every day for lunch, and for dinner if there is a group.