Israeli Restaurant Guide-Tel Aviv+Jerusalem (Updated 11.6.10

[Anthony Silverbrow]

A couple of quick thoughts on some of the restaurants in this thread.

I had a lovely meal at Meat & Wine. I ordered the prime rib and my wife went for fillet. Because the Beth Din in the UK don't allow the porging of hindquarters, it's a rare treat to get fillet. The texture is outstanding, but at least in this piece, the taste wasn't great - and that's with it being cooked in their house wine sauce. I asked for my prime rib w/out the sauce and the meat was outstanding. Big, chunky, just the right side of rare/medium and packed with the flavour. The staff were lovely and the onions rings a bit naughty. The sommelier recommended a nice bottle of Cab Sauv that was reasonable. My only thought is why the default is to desecrate the meat with that sauce. Although good for them that the server stressed the point that it came in the sauce and we didn't have to have it, thus my opt out.

Sima was delicious. We went for the Jerusalem Grill & mejadara, plus minced meat (lamb I assume) with hoummous, plus all the usual additional salads. I didn't tell my wife until after the meal what the J Grilll included but she chomped on it happily. It is good basic food and fried chicken bits mixed with fried onions is always going to be a winner.

If any member of the board is able to get a copy of the menu, or at least transcribe what exactly is included in it (I know hearts, gizzards, liver but can't remember what else) I'd be really appreciative.

As an aside and I know this is the wrong thread, but why on earth is Hess in Jerusalem not open on Friday?? I tried going to get some sausages for Shabbat lunch and all I was met with was a closed shop and some rather tasty sausages hanging in the window. As an addendum to this same off the thread point, my cab driver did me proud and took me to a place in a Meir Shearim back street to buy some outstanding schnitzel. No idea what it was called, nor would I be able to find it again, but it was delicious - moist, well battered, garlicky.

Back to the point, I'm hoping I'll be able to post a review about Lilith after tomorrow night.

[Daniel Rogov]

Anthony, Hi.....

See my response and my comments about Sami and their magnificent Jerusalem mixed grill at viewtopic.php?f=30&t=32558


Best
Rogov

[Anthony Silverbrow]

Dinner last night at Lilith was a bit of a disappointment. The room is lovely (once you walk through the office block) the service was impeccable. But the food was generally a real let down. It did start on a high note with some deliciously smooth babaganoush and a stunning olive oil. After that it slide downhill. I went for the chicken's livers to start. The whole livers were either so overcooked they were chalky, or so undercooked that they were slimy and made me feel a bit queasy. The bread they came on was all but burnt. The banana was quite a pleasant touch however, but fairly pedestrian.

I couldn't turn down the special of duck confit. I've never eaten this previously and have been desperate to try it so was delighted by this. I can only but assume that when people crave the gallic version it doesn't taste like this, because frankly this didn't taste of much. There were other bits of duck with the leg, that might have been foie gras, but that I have had and this was a poor cousin. The leg itself was utterly bland. It was served on two asparagus which were beaten into submission by overly sweet purees of various fruits and pumpkin. The asparagus vs sauce thing showed some wide-of-the-mark thinking in the kitchen. Asparagus is gentle, it needs to be coaxed along, not beaten-up.

Sorbets were neither here nor there.

As I said at the outset, overall a disappointment.

[Daniel Rogov]

11 Jun 2010

Two updates:


1. Tel Aviv: Bruno is now closed
2. Jerusalem: Hess is still recommended for buying sausages and pates but is no longer on my list of recommended restaurants

[Z Spigelman]

Daniel,
I agree with your removing of Hess from the recommended list. We were there a few months ago and they are now catering more to the sandwich crowd. The food is still good but the change is very noticeable.
Our last experience there was a real downer. We went there in late afternoon after spending the day in Yerushalayim. We were not very hungry so we ordered deli sandwiches with a side of coleslaw, and were told that they were out of coleslaw. We asked how a kosher deli can run out of coleslaw and their response was that someone came in on their way to the airport and bought all of it to take back with them. We considered this to be very inconsiderate of the restaurant to other customers and will most likely not return for a meal. We will, however, probably take out some sausages and liverwurst.
Zvi

[David Raccah]

Zvi and Hefe,

Totally agree. The last time I went to Hess, I plunked down more than 600 bucks and I was not impressed. They charged more than 100 bucks for a plate of fillet and it was not the bomb, definitely not worth the price. Still LOVED their cachuterie platter and pate.

David