The Haj Kahil family has a track-record of four decades (since 1973) in the restaurant business, and owns restaurants specializing in hummus, falafel, and shawarma. One of Jaffa’s squares has became known over the years as Haj Kahil Square.

 

At the new Haj Kahil restaurant, recently opened across from the Clock Square in Jaffa, Naim Haj Kahil offers diners authentic Arab cuisine with a Galilee orientation. For the purpose, he brought on board Chef Omar Iluwan, who gained experience in renowned Galilee restaurants like Diana, and al Babour (and also owns two chef-restaurants in Germany).

 

On the menu you’ll find outstanding dishes that till now required a special trip to the Galilee - stuffed lamb-neck, leg of lamb, fabulous Haleb-style kebab, siniya with tahini or tomatoes, mahmar, with fresh seasonal salads for starters. They’re served alongside a great range of skewered meat and steaks, and without giving up the knafeh and atayef desserts.

 

The Haj Kahil family has lived in Jaffa for over 120 years. Under Turkish rule, in the late nineteenth-century, the family made a living by driving the ‘diligences’ – the carriages in which Jaffa’s notables travelled the country (and also functioned as bodyguards). Naim Haj Kahil opened the new restaurant at the same site that for years was the main station of the carriages.  And to honour the family’s history, he chose the diligence as the emblem of the new restaurant.