As a local to the shuk, I have so many options on more doorstep, I don’t always venture very far for a good meal but I had heard numerous great reviews about the new Anna Italian Café in Ticho House that I felt it was worth trying it for myself.

We arrived very late for our booking and despite forgetting to call ahead and warn them, the hostess was very friendly when we arrived and assured me that they still had a table for us.  The design is very clean with an authentic rustic feel to it.  We eagerly scoured the menu and were ready to order fairly quickly.  At 8:30 on a Monday night, the place was packed and my only criticism are the bad acoustics.  The beautiful domed ceilings and stone floors create a very noisy restaurant, so much so that the waitress could barely hear me while I was ordering.  The tables are also quite close together which means you can also hear all the conversations around you, with people speaking fairly loudly to each other to be heard, only making more noise.  As the restaurant emptied slightly, it was much more pleasant and easier to talk to each other but next time I would love to sit on the beautiful terrace – much quieter and overlooking the gardens.

Everything else about our evening was great and the food more than made up for any other inconvenience.  Having told the waitress I don’t eat onion or garlic, they brought us complimentary home-made Grissini (NIS 15) with crème fraiche without the spicy pesto as it contains garlic.  We also devoured the White Fish Crudo (NIS 42).

For main course I had the Whole Sea Bream (NIS 82) and exchanged the herb potatoes for beautifully grilled zucchini.  They also made me a special garlic free lemon herb dressing which I was very impressed by.  I don’t think I have had such well cooked fish for that price anywhere else in Israel.  My companion had the Pappardelle with Sea Bass (NIS 72) which he thoroughly enjoyed.

We couldn’t resist the tempting desserts we saw around us so ordered the Lemon Tart (NIS 34).  Unfortunately, they had just run out so instead, they gave us both the Tiramisu (NIS 32) and the Chocolate Crémeux (NIS 36) on the house. Both were wonderfully fresh and not overly rich or heavy.

Overall we were incredibly impressed with both the food and service, they are having a few teething problems but the food is absolutely delicious and the service efficient and friendly so I personally would happily go again.