Palomino Italian Lounge and Wine Bar

May 2024
It is hard to believe that this beautifully appointed restaurant was once a Friday take away buffet. Restaurant partners and investors saw the potential of the property and turned it into the very beautiful Palomino restaurant. Palomino is a sight to behold and for the design alone, it is worth the visit.

Palomino is a quality Italian dairy and fish restaurant. To dine at Palomino is to dine in style. You will enter into a beautifully stylized dining area decorated with warm colors and posh furnishings. The investment in design is apparent in every detail, be it the lighting, the terrazzo tabletop, and the seating. The elegantly designed menu is impressive as is the quality service and the foods.

The Palomino management group are seasoned restaurateurs. Between them they have owned or worked at restaurants for decades. Owner Alon has professional training in the art of restaurants. He is an Italophile - admirer and appreciator of all things Italian. Especially the food. On his many visits to Italy, he was inspired by the great Italian restaurants and foods. Italians, he says, enjoy the pure taste of the raw ingredients. Tomatoes taste like tomatoes. The chefs do not use a lot of herbs and spices that cover up the natural flavors of the foods. The dishes at Palomino are designed in this style: pure and natural.

Authentic Italian cooking is so important that the Palomino management sent chef Shlomi to Italy to learn the art first hand from Italians. He traveled around the country collecting ideas for the Jerusalem restaurant. Alon also gains inspiration from some of his favorite Manhattan restaurants. And all of this is ready and waiting for you in Jerusalem!

Talk about style, just look at the menu, one clean minimalist page printed on both sides of heavy paper. The menu is available in Hebrew and English but the headings and the listings are in Italian. If your Italian is not up to snuff your server will explain.

The menu is not divided, as you would expect, into the standard categories of starters, mains and sides. The first category is cold and raw dishes, like salads and herring. These can be main courses or ordered with other dishes. The second category are warm and crispy dishes, which includes fish dishes and aranchini, the obligatory dish in every Italian restaurant.

The menu then takes you to where you thought you would be in a dairy Italian restaurant: pasta dishes, pizzas and rich dairy desserts.

Let us not forget the cocktails. There is a full wine and cocktail menu including Israeli wines and kosher imported wines from Europe. We began our early dinner at Palomino with a dirty Thaiquiri. This is a rum-based cocktail with lemon and pineapple and one of my favorites. Palomino has a good bar, and I recommend taking advantage of it. We then went straight to the pasta menu where we chose the recommended Rigatoni e Stracciatella and the Spaghetti al pistachio.

Stracciatella cheese, it was explained, is the filling used in Burrata. A Burrata is just this side of heaven. If you have not had a Burrata yet, don't let us stop you. The filling of the Burrata is a delicious combination of fresh cream and shredded mozzarella cheese. Palomino recommended that the Stracciatella filling be served on the side. As I am a novice I agreed. I was served a very large serving of pasta in tomato sauce, with the cheese on the side. As I have a penchant for creamy fatty cheeses, I would say that the cheese rescued this dish.

My companion's choice of the Spaghetti al pistachio required no translation. Out came a very large bowl of spaghetti with a rich creamy sauce heavily flavored with pistachio. I believe there were even some pistachio nuts. Though both dishes were enjoyable, the quantities of the pasta were huge. On my next visit we will choose just one pasta dish to share, and add one of the fish dishes or one of the cold dishes. That should give us a better idea of the versatility of the restaurant.

In the late afternoon when the restaurant opened, the tables were filling up. A couple sitting not far from us was enjoying a shared Palomino Pizza. This is a nice idea for a late afternoon snack. Restaurant pizza is often doused in oregano. Not so at Palomino. If it is oregano that you want, they have that, but first try it as the chef intended. The restaurant has a special pizza oven. It is shallow, so that the heat comes right up to the pizza. They cook the pizza at 350 degrees C for a perfect effect. The crust of the Palomino pizza is made of special Italian products and the toppings are all natural products.

The restaurant opens for dinner at 5pm. The restaurant also offers a Friday brunch from 10am. After your Shabbat shopping, stop at Palomino for a buffet brunch plus eggs made to order. This is a family event, with special rates for children and a menu they will love. So enjoy a pre-Shabbat brunch with the family.

Parking: Free parking in the lot on HaMaalot St at King George St

From Our Readers:
Submitted by orrin davis. Date: November 2021
Delicious food. Interesting menu, Outstanding service


From the Menu:

Starters NIS 60-ish
Caesar Salads NIS 68
Endive Salad NIS 72
Fish dishes NIS 130
Pasta dishes NIS 70-80
Desserts NIS 46-48
Friday Brunch: NIS 99