Excellent local places to eat in Jlem I'd recommend. None of these is expensive, and they're not the kinds of places that get recommended in guidebooks because they are too local for most foreigners to know about:

Lina restaurant -- in the Christian quarter of the Old City. Best hummous I've ever had. And they only serve hummous -- nothing else (except for the pickles that come with it) -- so it's freshly made all day. (found the address online!): Lina, Aqabt El- Khanqa (42), Christian Quarter, Old City, Jerusalem, tel.: 02 627-7230

borekas place on the left hand side of Jaffa Street just before you get to the municipality building (iriyah) as you come from the Ben Yehuda end of Jaffa Street. Can't remember the name but it is almost the last shop on the left hand side, and it's opposite the main post office. It has a long counter and a few small tables to sit at and a fridge stocked with soft drinks. Wonderfully fresh borekas and also good sweet cheese pastries for breakfast or other times of day...

Gourmet kosher burgers at "Burgers Bar" on Emek Refaim street. Juicy burgers (spiced with chili if you like that) on fresh ciabatta-kind of bread with interesting sauces like garlic mayonnaise (though they do have ketchup/mustard if you want that too). Emek Refaim is a nice place to walk generally.

Go to the Machane Yehuda shuk (market) and buy yourself lunch there from the fruit/vegetables/breads/olives/nuts/pastries etc. All fresh and delightful... but the best *restaurant* here is a place called Rachmo in the Iraqi market. 5 HaEshkol St., Machane Yehuda, 02-6234595.

Best Arab desserts I've had are available at Ja'afar Sweets in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City. Go in by the Damascus Gate, take the right hand fork where the path divides and the restaurant is a large-ish place on your right a little way along. It might have an English sign or not -- can't remember. But don't miss the kanafeh -- sweet cheese pastry native to Nablus which is really delicious, made of a kind of semolina-type dough flavoured with orange-flower-water and soaked in sugar syrup over a base of a mozzarella-type melted cheese. It might sound weird but it is really excellent. And they have standard baklava-type pastries too if that sounds too strange for you (but I really recommend you try it, since it is so unique and made fresh there and I've never had it outside the middle east).

I'll try to provide some other suggestions on sightseeing another time, but these are some food ideas to start you off.