News and Reviews from the Israel Foodie Scene.
It has been a busy month on the Israel foodie scence with plenty of news, especially in Jerusalem. The Machneyuda Group opened their first vegetarian restaurant and a street food restaurant in Jerusalem. Meir Adoni opened his first restaurant in Jerusalem and a new kosher Japanese restaurant opened in Ramat Gan.
Kosher Foodie News
YAM by Meir Adoni opened in the Crowne Plaza Jerusalem. The dairy/fish restaurant has a Middle Eastern menu that combines Jewish and Arabic dishes, with a western influence. This is Chef Meir Adoni‘s first restaurant in Jerusalem and I am super excited to try it! The menu is designed with dishes of various sizes for sharing, here is the Yam English menu.
Kamakura is a Japanese restaurant in the Indigo Hotel in Ramat Gan featuring traditional cuisine from different Japanese provinces. As well as a sushi menu, there is also a selection of meat, fish and vegetable dishes, such as beef tataki, miso eggplant, kale and wakame salad and yuzu marinated chicken. Business lunch ranges from 89 to 169 NIS and includes a starter and main course.
Not Kosher News
Tsemach is a vegetarian restaurant by the Machneyuda Group, located next to Machneyuda on the corner of Beit Yaakov and HaDekel Streets. The restaurant is being run by Chef Asaf Serri, along with other chefs from the group. The restaurant is open for breakfast and dinner but is closed for lunch. For now, they do not have a website or Facebook page but I will keep you updated as soon as it is available.
Credit: PR
GG Kubala is a street food restaurant by the Machneyuda Group on HaDekel Street near the shuk. The sandwiches are made with Kubala, which is a cross between Yemenite Kubaneh and Challah. Fillings include corned beef with pickled cabbage, beef kebab dripping with sour tahina, fried fish with labneh aioli, and charcoal-grilled cabbage and tahina and chimichurri. They also have a dessert kubala covered with toffee sauce, cinnamon and cream cheese. Prices range from NIS 36-46 for a sandwich or NIS 60 for a meal, which includes home-made fries and a drink. I have tried both the corned beef and the kebab sandwiches and they were both delicious! The restaurant is being run by Chef Michael Yadid, who has been a chef with the group for 10 years.
Credit: Shuli Reshet
Poupée is a restaurant, bar and club on Yehuda Halevi Street in Tel Aviv, run by Chefs Oren Asido and Yoni Saada. Asido won Game of Chefs Season 3 and then spent some time working for the Machneyuda Group in Jerusalem. Saada is a French chef who runs his own restaurant in Paris but will spend some of his time in Tel Aviv at Poupée. I had the chance to try the restaurant not long after it opened. The decor was beautiful, our waiter was amazing, the food was very tasty and well cooked. However, the hostess at the entrance was very rude and stuck up, the portions were small for the price they charged and we left hungry. They also served tempo tonic, which should never be allowed in any chef restaurant. The Russian doll toilets look great from the outside but they were so dark inside that you could barely see anything and they smelt of pee! Hopefully, these are teething issues and it will get better as the place has a lot of potential.
Shansky Bransky is a self-service cafe by the owners of Jasmino, one of Tel Aviv’s most popular street food stalls.
Neopolitan is a pizza restaurant in Downtown Haifa serving traditional Naples style pizza with a sourdough base. I am most excited to try the Cacio e Pepe pizza, with Grana Padana, parmesan and black pepper.
Other Israel Foodie News
Chef Eyal Shani will finally open branchs of Miznon around Israel. Even though Shani already has branches of Miznon in Paris, Vienna, Melbourne and New York, this will be the first branch in Israel, outside of Tel Aviv. Miznon is due to open a branch in a new complex in Kiryat Anavim, next to Abu Ghosh, 15 minutes outside of Jerusalem. Shani will also open a further seven branches around Israel in the next two years. I am personally very excited as I love the food at Miznon and Kiryat Anavim is a great location!
As a teenager, I spent many nights at Cafe London on the Tel Aviv promenade, because back then, there were no other restaurants on the beach. How it has survived this long baffles me, but it has finally closed. In its place, will be a culinary complex which will include a burger restaurant, Israeli street food stall, a coffee shop, an ice cream stall and a branch of Greco restaurant. The new complex will open in the summer.
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