At the center of Machane Yehuda Market is Azura, a legendary mainstay of Jerusalem for both locals and visitors. Since before the state of Israel was founded, Azura has been serving diners a wide variety of homemade Middle Eastern food, including Kurdish, Iraqi and Sephardic dishes. The restaurant is said to have been a favorite of the underground leaders of the Jewish community before Israel was made a state, and its popularity has only increased in the decades since.