Spontaneous Dinner: Cena

Update July 2013: The place is closed.

Thursday night; again in the last minute we decide we want to go out. Tali and Elan are joining us, they too want to take a break from work; We are thinking what will be the best option between the few places that still have available tables for 30 minutes from now; The selected place – CENA.

Artichoke and Asparagus

CENA has opened lately in a very challenging spot: Montefiore Street – New kid on the block of Hotel Montefiore, Yavna Montefiore, Montefiore 7 and Wine Bar (At least they didn’t use the “Montefiore” in their name). As such, we have expected a lot from the new place.

Calamari a la plancha stuffed with sweet potatoes cream

The starters were promising – Tali and Elan shared Artichoke and Asparagus that were served on roots and parmesan cream. As a big fan of Artichokes, Elan has definitely approved it as a quality dish. We took Calamari a la plancha that was stuffed with sweet potatoes cream and was also very tasty (though a little small).

Goose Drumstick in Oranges Sauce

For main courses each of us took one – Tali ordered the Goose Drumstick in Oranges Sauce served with potato and parmesan gratin. Tali found the dish tasty but too small as she felt she is still hungry after finishing the dish.  Elan took the Beef Burger and goose breast; the waitress promised extra smooth burger thanks to the goose, nevertheless Elan didn’t find this burger very different from the usual burgers.

Beef Burger and goose breast

Shahar took Provencal fish that was served with baked vegetables. The fish was nice but did not win our “value for money” price. Inbar took the Zopa di Mara, Italian seafood soup that was recommended by the waitress and was one big disappointment.

Provencal fish

Zopa di Mara

The highlight of the dinner was discovered at the dessert stage. Tali and Elan shared Apple Crumble; while we shared Panna Cotta – although both of them sound pretty “regular” desserts – we were surprised from the original interpretation they got at CENA.

Panna Cotta

At the end of the dinner, while trying to understand what we think about the place, we realized that unfortunately, we don’t think Cena will be a target on the next time we search for a place to eat on Thursday night (or on every other night).

The Check Please (4 People)

2 X Big Pellegrino – 50NIS
Calamari – 52NIS
Artichoke and Asparagus – 42NIS
Provencal Fish – 98NIS
Beef Burger – 65NIS
Zopa di Mara – 60NIS
Goose Drumstick  – 82NIS
Sira Flam – 155NIS
Diet Coke – 11NIS
Panna cota- 32NIS
Apple Crumble – 36NIS

All in all: 683 NIS

Summary:

Food: Bistro
Price: Expensive
Location: Montefiore Street

The Cizer-Kobrinsky Scale: 

3 Forks

Contact Details

42 Montefiore street, Tel Aviv | 9424640–057|
Monday-Friday 18:00-late | Saturday 12:00-17:00 | http://www.rest.co.il/sites/Default.asp?txtRestID=12507

The Perfect Romantic Celebration – The Wine Bar

We waited a long time since starting to write this blog until we have returned to one of our favorite places in Tel Aviv. Though quite a small place, containing nothing more than 4-5 tables and a bar, the Wine Bar has more romantic spirit and passion than most of the restaurants we have visited so far.

The Bar

Logging to their Facebook page, you’ll receive frequent updates (in Hebrew though) regarding their newest ingredient which came straight from the market or from the fisherman. Book a place at the bar as we have and you won’t be disappointed, as the highlight of the place is the fact that the chef is right in front of you, grilling the shrimps, chopping the Tuna and burning the Brule. That way you can also make sure the Wine Bar is using only fresh ingredients.

Greek Calamari Salad

We have booked a place at the bar a night after our wedding, as the celebration must continue. We shared three dishes. The first one was Greek Calamari Salad with Kalamate olives, tomatoes, green peppers and red onions. Though all fresh, something in the sauce didn’t come together and it was somewhat disappointing. The second dish was Pasta shreds with sautéed Italian Artichokes, delicate pesto sauce and Parmesan. This was a great example of the creative side of Wine Bar, and was a delicious dish (highly recommended if you are an Artichoke fan).

Artichokes and Pasta Shreds

The last dish we ordered is one of Inbar’s all time favorites –Seafood Gnocchi. A true quality homemade Gnocchi, was served with a selection of Shrimps and Calamari, cherry tomatoes, green peppers and coriander. The spiciness of the sauce and the fresh ingredients of the dish combined to one of the best seafood pastas we ever had.

Seafood Gnocchi

To end the evening with a sweet taste in our mouth we also took a Banana Crumble. The hot crisp topping and the warm banana fitted very well and were very tasty. Along with two glasses of Gewurztraminer wine we went out the street elated.

Banana Crumble

As long as the Wine Bar continues to have the passion it shows and continues to execute as it does now, we will definitely come back, at least once in a while.

The check please (2 people)

Artichokes and Pasta Shreds – 54 NIS
Greek Calamari Salad – 52 NIS
Seafood Gnocchi – 64 NIS
Banana Crumble – 32 NIS
2X Gewurztraminer by the glass – 68 NIS

All in all: 270 NIS

The Cizer-Kobrinsky Scale: 

4.5 Forks

Summary:

Food:  Mediterranean
Price:  Expensive
Location: Montefiore-Nachlat Binyamin

Contact details: Wine Bar
Address:  36 Nachlat Binyamin,Tel Aviv | 03-5102923|
Opening Hours:  Sunday-Thrusday, Saturday 19:00-01:00 Friday 13:00-01:00 |
http://www.rest.co.il/sites/Default.asp?txtRestID=9866 (No English)
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wine-Bar/99691452740

Fashion Victim – Montefiore 7

Update July 2013: The place is closed.

Montefiore 7 Bar

The latest trend on town in the restaurant scene is the market restaurants that are opening up like mushrooms after the rain (which in this year was extended more than expected). As Adi offered to celebrate my birthday I chose to go after the trend and try one of the new market places – Montefiore 7.

Spicy Lemon Spread & Za’atar

Montefiore 7 (Sheva, in Hebrew), deli and restaurant, is surprisingly located at 7^th Montefiore Street, the street that hosts at least two more places that adopted the street name when came to choose their names (Hotel Montefiore, Yavne-Montefiore). While riding Adi’s motorbike I was hoping that the place’s name does not indicate its (lack of) uniqueness.

When entering the well-designed market-oriented restaurant, I couldn’t help wondering whether I have been in the place before. And I did – I was in Machnea Yehuda, Tapas in the Port, Tapas 1 Haam, Cordovero and so on. Montefiore 7 is not different from all others.

We set on the bar and started with a bottle of Gewurztraminer wine and only then we were ready to order. We were served a complimentary paper bag, which luckily included white bread along with spicy lemon spread & Za’atar.

When coming to choose from the menu we couldn’t notice that it uses a lot of Hebrew terms that reminded us the terms of Eyal Shani in general and North Abraxas specifically. Nevertheless, we did not give up and ordered from the deli’s goods and from the restaurant menu, which changes on a daily bases and depends on the market supply.

Rump Carpaccio

We shared a Cold Sirloin, pickled in seven spices, served in a small plate and a farmer’s tomato salad – a salad that combines different kinds of tomatoes, red onion, garlic, spicy pepper, radish, black olives and Bryndza cheese. The fresh tomatoes salad, another hot trend in Tel Aviv, was served with small burned Pita bread, which added a different twist to the known dish.

Tomato Salad

For the main courses, although all served together, Adi took Rump Carpaccio while I took Purple Calamari served on top of yogurt and black pees salad. The Calamari was a bit stiff for me, but all in all it was a nice dish. The Rump Carpaccio was an average (but quite good) Carpaccio dish.

Malabi

For dessert we took Malabi, a small tasty dessert that was served in a mini jar alongside with pear jam.

When coming to summarize our visit I must say that although the place was not very unique, it was good, after all we are all fashion victims.

The check please (2 people)

Blue Nan Gewurztraminer (Bottle) – 98NIS
Pickled Sirloin in seven spices – 22NIS
Farmer’s Tomatoes Salad – 28NIS
Rump Carpaccio – 32NIS
Purple Calamari – 39NIS
Malabi – 28NIS

All in all: 247NIS

The Cizer-Kobrinsky Scale:

3.5 Forks

 

Summary:

Food: Market food
Price:  Medium
Location: Montefiore / Hertzel

Contact details: Montefiore 7
Address: 7^th Montefiore St., Tel Aviv| 03-5100094 |
Opening Hours:  Sunday – Thursday 12:00-01:00, Friday- Saturday 09:00-01:00
No webpage

New Job Celebration @ Yavne-Montefiore

Update July 2013: The place is closed.

Last week I (Inbar) was invited by my childhood friend, Tali, to celebrate my new job. We decided to go to the newest and hottest place in Tel Aviv, Roshfeld ‘s place, Yavne Montefiore. Yonatan Rosheld was known as a young and promising chef in the mid-nineties; after a few years of silence, he opened three successful places in Tel Aviv i– Herbert Samuel, Tapas 1 Ha’am & the latest one – Yavne Montefiore. The place is located on the ruins of the late Amichi, a restaurant that was closed before celebrating its one year anniversary.  The owners chose to keep the inner decoration of the previous restaurant – which was quite crowded. We were sat in the middle of two tables and felt as if we were a part of the tables around us. Yavne Montefiore does not have traditional menus – instead they have paper placemat with the dishes printed on it. We decided to go along with a recommendation Tali heard from one of her friends – to take mostly starters and if you’re still hungry take an entrée as well.  So we did… We started with a Beef Carpaccio, a Chicken Liver pate, a Tartar Steak & a Tomato Salad. All the dishes were served pretty much at the same time, and the small table was soon too crowded to handle them all.  We had to eat them one after the other in order to enable the waitress to take the plates quickly. We started with the Carpaccio – it was made from good beef and was quite fresh – but a bit small. Then, we went straight ahead to the Chicken Liver pate. It was served in a jar, a repeating motif in Yavne Montefiore, as you will notice later on. The traditional jam was served as a thick layout above the pate. Tali, a big fan of the course, declared that it was good but not amazing. She felt there wasn’t enough jam and that it was quite hard to share when it is served in small jar. The course was escorted by one slice of oven baked bread.

Tomato Salad

Third dish on the judges’ table was the tartar – it was served in a unique way – in a bowl with the fresh meat alongside with a bottle of mustard sauce and chopped onion & capers. The dish needs to be stirred by the diner as much as he wishes. This dish was a good use of fresh and tasty beef with no need for any further additions. It was a bit spicy but very good. We took the small version of the dish; apparently this size isn’t served with chips, as described in the placements. This was one example for the incompatibility between the kitchen and the waitress that was felt. To their defense, I should mention that once we asked them – they apologized for the misunderstanding and sent us the chips right away. The last dish of the starters was the fresh tomato salad that was made from various types of tomatoes in all kind of forms. The absence of bread during the starters was felt.

Shrimps Provencal

We were still a little bit hungry, so we decided to taste the “Plates du jour”. As far as we remember (we were students in French lessons in junior high), “Plates du jour” means Plate of the day. Indeed this section of the menu shows that each day of the week has a different dish. But we were happy to find out that although it was Wednesday, they only had Sunday’s plate. Looking at this incompatibility, we actually didn’t care since Sunday’s dish is Shrimp Provencal – with artichoke, white wine and fresh herbs. Though when we tasted it we were sorry it wasn’t Wednesday. The Shrimps were well cooked but the tomato sauce and artichoke did not knock us off our feet. Just as a comparison, two weeks ago I ate a similar dish, for the same price, in the Coffee Bar – The Prawns in white wine and artichoke. That dish was larger and much tastier.

Cheese Cake

The menu issue continues to the deserts as well; Yavne Montefiore does not have deserts’ menu but rather a waitress that comes with all the variety of deserts to the table and offers you to choose from her tray. Too bad she didn’t taste most of the deserts and couldn’t recommend us one. We took a cheese cake that was also served in a jar. The cake was topped with pistachio cream which tasted of almonds & lemon. As opposed to the Chicken Liver Pate, deserts were made in order to share. It’s quite hard to share when you have to push your spoon in a small jar that is held by someone else. In one of the latest issues of Timeout Tel Aviv (We have already mentioned that they are our spiritual fathers), Roshfeld was interviewed and declared this place should be for the common people – as in – affordable. You can judge it for yourself in the check. Only one day after our visit, the magazine had published a review about the place by Yuval Job Haragil (which is truly our role model). I think he liked the place more than I did – but at the end of the day I think it is a nice place to come back to in the next family gathering. The check please (2 people): Beef Carpaccio – 45NIS Chicken Liver Pate – 44 NIS Tartar Steak (small)– 44NIS Tomato Salad – 45NIS Shrimp Provencal – 88NIS Pepsi Max – 12NIS San Pellegrino (Large) -24NIS 2X Espresso – 18NIS Cheese Cake – 28NIS All in all: 348 NIS Summary: Food: Chef Bistro Price: Expensive Location: Montefiore / Allenby The Cizer-Kobrinsky Scale

3.5 Forks

Contact details: Yavne-Montefiore Address:  31 Montefiore Street, Tel Aviv | Phone: 03-5666189| Opening Hours:  Sun – Sat 12:00-16:00 | Sun – Sat 18:00-24:00 http://www.rest.co.il/sites/Default.asp?txtRestID=11440