Five Mediterranean
Cuisine Lunches in Tel Aviv
By Roshni
Udyavar Yehuda
published in the Chef's Arena September 2019 issue
https://ssca.edu.in/assets/pdf/SSCATheChefsArena-September2019.pdf
There is nothing that describes cosmopolitan
and vibrant better than the city of Tel Aviv especially along its promenade at
Hayarkon Street. Walking along the Tel Aviv beaches from the Reading Power
Station to Jaffa has always been a delightful experience, absorbing the sights
and sound of the bustling city on the one side while taking in the calmness of
the deep blue Mediterranean on the other. The inner lanes of Ben Yehuda,
Allenby, Dizengoff and Bugrashov, if you have a taste for art and architecture,
can continue to surprise you each time you visit besides some interesting
shopping with value for money!
In my short five-day trip, in which I had
nothing planned, I was not only delighted by the city despite the heat wave
after ‘Laag Baomer’ (a Jewish holiday which involves the lighting of bon fires
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lag_BaOmer), but by the delicious cuisine brought
in by the variety of Mediterranean dishes that the city offered.
Walking across Sarona Park, a newly redeveloped colony
established by the German Templers (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Templers_(religious_believers)) 140 years ago, on the first afternoon,
we bumped into Biga, a kosher
restaurant and bakery chain that had an
English menu on IPAD! Since it offered a variety of healthy options, we settled
for a Currey Stew. The dish is made of
black rice, spinach and mushrooms with pieces of tossed Tofu was not only
delicious but filling for two, healthy and good value for money at just 60
shekels along with two whole wheat bread accompaniments.
On the second day, since our appointment took
us to the spanky and upscale neighbourhood of Ramat Aviv, we decided to stroll
into the mall, which is large, well laid out and interesting. On the first
floor food zone, we saw Sima’s kitchen. As
we were trying to inquire from the super busy stall, the gentleman behind the
counter offered us a felafal, which
literally melted in my mouth. The food looked middle eastern and delicious. We
decided to settle for a combo which offered one main dish, two side dishes and
unlimited salad which included pickled jalapeno, spiced onions, carrots,
cabbage and the like. The main dish we selected was couscous with chickpeas, chicken kofta
balls in a stew and mushrooms. Once again, a delicious and filling meal for
two, all for 50 shekels, add a tall glass of lemonade made it 60 shekels.
The next day we walked in for lunch at a well-known
joint called Felafel Gina near
Azrieli Centre. The dish included hummus with boiled chickpeas, olive oil,
tahini eaten along with Pita bread and unlimited pickled salad. All this for
about 40 shekels.
On Saturday morning, we decided to take a
guided tour of the ‘White City’ – about the origins of Tel Aviv in 1907 till
the Bauhas movement in 1930s in the famous Rothschild boulevard in the heart of where the Tel or
Spring was found by the 64 families which first settled in Tel Aviv. It was a
good 2- hour guided walking tour in the streets surrounding Rothschild Boulevard
(with its amazingly pretty little houses each of which with a history all its
own. On the way back to our hotel on Hayarkon Street, we used Google maps to
take the short cut from Rothschild Boulevard to Allenby Street and Ben Yehuda Street.
It was here, while walking on Allenby Street, that
we stumbled upon the famous Abulafiyah
store – well lit, clean and
with people queeuing in to collect freshly baked items. The smell of the baked
bread combined with the sight of the large fired oven, drove us in. Although it
took us some time to get through with our order, to decide what to eat among so
many delectable items, we first ordered a sambusak
(the original Middle Eastern dish from which originated samosa) with mushroom
and cheese filling, and baked bread with eggs fried on top, along with a plate
full of salad. Aboulafiya
Bakery on Ben Yehuda street is very famous and has become a household name. The
original and oldest branch of this bakery is located in Old Jaffa, near the
clock tower started by Walid Abouelafia. The Bakery sells a variety of baked
goods, including Pita Bread, Bagels, Sambusak, Egg Bagels, Pizza and sweets like
Baklawah and Cnaphe.
And finally, the last day, and I was wondering
that there will surely be a repeat of something I have already tasted. But then
when we ended up at Felafel Gabai on
Bugroshov Street off Ben Yehuda Street,
I was mistaken. On a Sunday, the first working day of the week in Israel,
people came streaming in, parking their bicycles, walking in from the beach
nearby, foreigners, daily customers, old and young, there was a continuous
stream of people being served fresh Middle Eastern delights. We had a two
pocket pitas, one with chicken breast and other with shwarma mixed with delightful veggies, salads and spices and of
course, accompanied with unlimited salad. After this filling and mouth-watering
dish, we had another Middle Eastern
delight, a sweet dish called Malabi, made of almond milk, and sugar and dressed
with pomegranate juice and rose water along with lots of powdered almonds and
pistachios. After eating all this, it only made sense for me to take a nap! All
this was not more than 60 shekels. With the steady stream of people coming into
the restaurant from the busy street, the staff served fresh food quickly to
customers, while occasionally breaking
into a jolly song promoting the delights of the Felafel Gabai.
Besides these eateries, we found the eateries
on the beach-front expensive but after a walk along the beach one evening, we
rested peacefully at a restaurant almost touching the beach and had a quarter
plate of water melon. Among the eateries along the Tel Aviv promenade, London, with its food varieties and
comparative costs, is a good choice.
So, those of you who think you need to pack in
your theplas and khakhras on a visit to Israel, think again for here you have dishes
dating back to history, bringing in the best of Mediterrenean cuisine -offering
the best to non-vegetarians, vegetarians and vegans.
Dr. Roshni Udyavar Yehuda is a
Practicing Architect and Academician, whose core competency lies in energy
efficient and environmental design of buildings. She is Director, Roshni Udyavar &
Associates, Mumbai, an Environmental Architecture and Consultancy Firm
established in 2004. She was Head, Rachana Sansad’s Institute of Environmental
Architecture from June 2003 to July 2017 where she initiated several
environmental projects and headed a postgraduate program. She has more than 20
years of academic and professional experience and has travelled widely on
professional assignments to more than 20 countries. She is an avid traveller
and loves to learn about culture, food and music wherever she travels – in
India or abroad.
