Wandering round the Nehalat Shiv’a district on my first evening in Jerusalem I find plenty of places to eat and, at the same time, nothing that appeals. I am not alone – several times I cross paths with a couple who are also wandering disconsolately from restaurant to restaurant in search of food.

My spirits rise when I read restaurant, cafe, bookstore on a sign that guides me into a small courtyard off the Yoel Moshe Salomon Street. It will surprise no-one who knows me that the offer of a book with my food, even when I have one in my rucksack, is one that appeals.

The Tmol-Shilshom cafe comprises two rooms and two outdoor areas including a tiny balcony. The furniture is an eclectic mix of tables and chairs, some decorative miscellania and – of course – shelves and windowsills laden with books. Many are in Hebrew but some are not, including Anita Diamant’s The Red Tent, a compelling fictional account (some have called it “midrash”) of the life of Dinah, daughter of Jacob, who receives only a passing mention in the Bible. Immediately I feel at home.

The menu offers an uncomplicated and appealing selection of vegetarian dishes as well as a programme of literary events. The latter are mainly in Hebrew but it happens that my visit takes place the day before three professors from the Hebrew and Emory Universities are due to read poems by WH Auden in the original English and in Hebrew translation.

My food, when it comes, lives up to the promise (as I see it) of the menu for simple, tasty fare. The service, too, is everything one might hope for in a place of this kind. I wonder about the young men who serve me – students perhaps? I imagine that they are more likely to be lovers of literature than career waiters.

By the time I leave, I know I shall return to hear Auden and to enjoy my evening meal.