At the end of November Open Restaurants held their inaugural Jerusalem festival with four days of culinary events including workshops, tours, talks and other food related activities for children and adults.  Some of the highlights included a dessert workshop with the pastry chef of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, tours of the Israel Museum by some of Jerusalem’s leading chefs and a cocktail party on the Light Rail.

The festival was an exciting addition to the Jerusalem calendar and although initially there was limited information available in English, the website was updated a few weeks before the festival with details of all activities which can still be found here http://open-restaurants.co.il/?lang=en.

I was fortunate to meet the force behind this project, Merav Oren, a serial entrepreneur with a background in the high-tech industry. She founded Open Restaurants in Tel Aviv in 2013 and plans to expand the model in Europe in Amsterdam and then London.  I spoke with her towards the end of the festival and she was uplifted by the energy and excitement in Jerusalem and is looking forward to planning next year’s event.  She assured me that next year they will aim to have the English website available well in advance so that English speakers in Jerusalem can access all the information.

Photos from the events can be found on their new English Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/openrestaurantsglobal.

Red Tie Cocktail (Tomer Foltyn Photography)

Alliance House Mad Tea Party (Tomer Foltyn Photography)