Interview (in 2004) with Shaadi Juelis, owner with father Ashur Juelis from the Old City, currently lives in Shu'afat

About the name Central Cafe:

From 1972 to 1987, the place was called Central CafÈ. In 1987, we turned it into a restaurant serving oriental food and called it Jerusalem Star Restaurant. Because of the situation and its affect on tourism, the last 3 years the place has gone back to being a cafÈ and is again called Central CafÈ.

The building's history:

It was an empty spot in between a flour-making shop (now a souvenir shop) and the steps to the marketplace. Al Wad is an ancient street. It is believed to have been called the same name even during the time of Jesus. Wad means "valley" in Arabic. It took us a year to build, and we built between 7 pm and 7 am because it was not legal to do this work during business hours because of how busy the old city is during the day.

About the design and renovation:

It was designed by Abu Zenay, a friend from Hebron. The interior moulding is from Hebron, and the large fixture is from Italy.

Where the coffee and nargilas (waterpipes) are from:

Our coffee, mixed with cardamom, is from Iz Haamaam in the Old City. They are a family that has been making coffee for over 50 years. Everyone knows it s the best. The nargeelas and apple flavored tobacco are bought in Hebron. The nargeelas are Syrian and the apple tobacco Egyptian. The old people here prefer a strong tobacco from Nabulus. It can give you headache like a cigar. People here believe that the water of a nargeela cleans out the nicotine and toxins from tobacco.

About coffee in Arabic culture:

If you are nervous or have a headache, coffee will calm you down. Coffee brings you down here. It is different here, because it has cardamom in it. When we serve coffee we say "Ahalan W'sahalan"  welcome. Because everywhere in the Middle East the first thing you serve someone is coffee. When someone gets married or someone dies, you serve coffee first.

 

What people do at Central CafÈ:

People drink sweet to medium sweet Arabic coffee, play "151" and some order nargilas. "151" or Huhnd in Arabic, is a card game played by 4 people that is originally from Syria. The one who finishes the set wins. It is played 9 times over. Some play shesh-besh (backgammon) here, but not so many. In Egypt shesh-besh is very popular.

 

About the clientele:

They are local people, mostly from the Old City. When we had a restaurant it was eighty percent foreigners Now it is mostly older people, the young people go around less.

 

Favorite music to play:

My favorite singer is Julios Iglesias. The favorite Arabic music here is Farid Il Atrash from Syrian and Um Koulthum from Egypt.