There’s Always Room Downtown: A Haifa Food Diary

Haifa’s Lower City is transforming. Once home mainly to sailors, prostitutes, workers’ luncheonettes and seedy bars, the area is in a process of renewal, with young people and artists flocking in. But one thing has stayed the same: In the Lower City, you can always find something unusual to eat. It offers everything, from renowned seafood restaurants to smoke-filled dives, the best kabab in the world, and semi-contraband delis with wines and cheeses smuggled in from abroad.

In this book, Hilla Alpert, a food critic, television personality and avid cook, tours the Lower City, visiting the old and the new: restaurants, food stands, bars. She adds her own personal, sensual touch to the vibrant colors and flavors and the unique people and places she encounters. Alpert’s impressions are accompanied by recipes from her own kitchen, which pair well with her unforgettable cast of characters.