Gourmandises

About

10 Yoel Solomon, Kikar Ha Musica Nachlat Shiva Phone - 02 566-7222 Kosher Mehedrin, Rabinute Yerushalayim Hours: Sunday through Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday, 8:30 a.m. to three hours before Shabbat Cole Porter wrote "C'est magnifique" in 1953 for the musical Can-Can, but the words translated as magnificent, great and wonderful fit the nine-month-old new French dairy restaurant perfectly. So does its name which means delicacies. It is hard for Livnatt and Yoel Affriat to believe just a few years ago they were working in Paris as opticians. Yoel became bored and wanted a change, so he went to Lenotre Culinary Institute and took the one-year-course to be a pastry chef. Afterward, they started a catering company. In May 2013, Laurent Levy, a friend who was a French optician and businessman in Jerusalem, came to Paris, saw the works of their catering company and he told them, he had an idea from one of his projects. He explained Kikar Musica, the only music square in downtown Jerusalem. In July, Livnatt and Yoel came on aliyah with their children ages 16, 12 and 9. Levy suggested they rent a place from him for a patisserie (a bakery specializing in pastries and sweets baked by a pastry chef) and restaurant. December 2014, they opened Gourmandises in HaMusica Square. As you approach the large square, there are tables which seat 40. Inside the L-shaped room, there is a table with sweets, a showcase and a wall made of Jerusalem stone. (Someone has said the old building was once a garage for the Nachlat Shiva neighborhood.) Candelabras are on the ceiling; by the white tables which seat 26, are gold studded faux leather and white chairs. Brass sconces are on the Jerusalem stone wall. Glass Eiffel Tower vases, tied with a ribbon, are on each table and the whole atmosphere is very intimate and homey. The menu is French, English and Hebrew. Come for the classic breakfast (NIS 45) or brunch for one or two (NIS 59/108). Four entrees are named after composers and come with