Mind Over Stomach

Conveniently located near my apartment and open on Shabbat. I’ve spent many hours here because it’s a very comfortable environment with many young people sitting, eating, chatting and/or keeping to themselves on their computers with headphones on. The unfortunate thing is the number of chain smokers that sit outside. The first thing I tried here was the chai latte, which I can honestly say was the best one in Tel Aviv that I’ve had so far but of course it’s overpriced at 19nis ($5) = more expensive than Starbucks! The waitresses are all very pleasant and nobody gives you a hard time if you’ve been sitting there for hours and only have a drink. The food is fair–it looks better than it tastes. The quinoa salad comes with almonds, full almonds, not sliced almonds. I find full almonds very difficult to eat, especially when they’re amongst other ingredients in a salad and then all of a sudden, okay, focus, chew chew chew. Not for me. I’ve also had their mozzarella and tomato sandwich which should be hot and either fresh or melted, instead it was a bit too mushy for me. I do enjoy the bread selection they give with their salads. I would say, stick with the beverages here, and eat elsewhere.

Cafe Arlozorov
Arlozorov, 53

I never ate Greek food until I went to Greece and didn’t have much of a choice and realized how many wonderful options I had. So when I returned from Greece, I was told I had to check out Pylos. What’s Pylos? Ah, that place on 7th Street that I always pass and wonder what the deal is. So I had to check it out. Great service. Great ambiance and delicious food and wine. The waiter recommended a white wine that was fantastic. My two friends and I shared a bunch of appetizers and it was the perfect amount of food. We had Artichoke heart moussaka, layered with caramelized onions, herbs and three greek cheeses béchamel sauce that was outstanding. The crisp fried zucchini and eggplant with tzatiziki was good but nothing special. Three Greek cheeses in a clay pot, a bit TOO much cheese for me. It’s bound to sit in your stomach for too long. Cool pear and arugula salad, so yummy and flavorful. I love fruit in salads.

THE best part of the meal was a trio of Greece’s three best dipping sauces – tzatziki, taramosalata and melitzanosalata with toasted pita. Obviously I didn’t have the taramosalata because it was fish but the other two were excellent.

I highly recommend this place. Prices were completely reasonable and really great service.

Pylos
128 E 7th St

My friend made a reservation here as it recently opened and heard good things so we decided to check it out. Six of us went on a Saturday night and it was a cool room, cool ambiance. They had outside seating and unique art on the walls. The music was fantastic and I wish I had whatever mix or ipod was playing.

We ordered a bottle of red wine and prosecco that was yummy and came in cool glasses. We shared two salads. One had spinach, pear, fennel, toasted pine nuts, mustard with a saffron vinaigrette was really yummy. Then we shared a few pies of pizza. The Margherita pizza was good and the pesto/potato/string bean pizza was very interesting. I was disappointed that the potatoes were like potato chips. Potato chips don’t belong on pizza, that’s for sure. As always, love pesto pizza, but this wasn’t excellent. We all had espressos or cappuccino and we shared a nutella calzone, which was fine. Nothing outrageous.

We were definitely a loud pre-occupied group but the waitress paid very little attention to us and was pretty spacey. It was reasonably priced and after paying, one of my friends noticed a cockroach on the wall. I was nearly squealing and screaming and had to run out of the restaurant. Clearly, there are many other great italian places in the city. Especially in the east village.

Tonda
235 E 4th St

There are two Buddha Burger locations in Tel Aviv but I’ve only been to the one of Ibn Gvirol just because it’s closer to my apartment not because I like it better (and actually have heard the one on Yehuda HaLevy is better because there is more seating and it’s less of a take-out place). Anyway, I’ve been a few times and always ordered the Okara Burger that is made of the firm part of soybeans with tahini instead of mustard. It’s delicious especially with grilled onions on top. The problem with being a vegetarian is that you’re always still hungry, at least I am. So when I first went there, I decided to order a salad as well. I ordered the Quinoa Salad which had dried cranberries, celery, walnuts, parsley, mint and coriander. It seemed like the perfect addition to my non-filling but delicious burger. Waiting, waiting, hungry, hungry and the chef brings my salad out. There are chunks of tomatoes, olives and tofu. Woah woah woah. This is not what I ordered. I give it back to her and show her what I ordered off the menu and I am not in the mood for tofu and hate olives. She tells me that this is exactly what I ordered. I show her what the menu says again, and she gives me a devastated look. “What’s wrong?” and she begins to explain that the English translation must have been a huge mistake because the Quinoa Salad does have all those ingredients but for some reason it doesn’t say it on the English menu. She thanked me for noticing the error, but really I didn’t notice the error I just didn’t want those ingredients in my salad! She offered to take it back but honestly at that point, I was so hungry, I decided to take all the ingredients off and just eat the Quinoa. What a waste of time and money. Could have had two Okara burgers at that point and been happy.

Buddha Burger
Ibn Gvirol, 86

Hazaken Ve Hayam otherwise known as The Old Man and the Sea. I didn’t know where we were going. My friend said this was going to be a really fun experience. Okay, I’m in for fun! Sat in traffic from Tel Aviv to Jaffa and finally made it here, were immediately seated and without even having the chance to talk to the waiter, he brought out a huge, steaming hot pita bread. Then a pitcher of lemonade. Then a tray with approximately 20 small plates with all different dips and veggies and sauces and such. It was incredible. Of course I didn’t like more than half of them (fish, eggs, beets, spicy-ness) but the things that I did eat were incredible. I’m trying to understand how people have the stomach to actually order food after that. It’s so filling and delicious and totally reasonably priced. I will be returning here soon!

Hazaken Ve Hayam
Kedem Street, Jaffa

I’m trying to understand why there’s such a hype about Moses. There’s so much amazing food in Tel Aviv and fresh fruits & veggies and such, and people are resorting to a very typical American burger joint? I don’t get it. I went with friends the other day for Linner (late lunch, early dinner) at Moses. We waited for too long considering how big of a place it was but they didn’t have a table for 8 at 5pm. I don’t eat meat and I don’t like beer so when people get excited to go for “beer and burgers” it means I eat a salad or veggie burger and have a glass of wine. I’m difficult, I know. So I starred at the menu for a long time deciding if I should get cheese quesadillas or the veggie burger (tofu, soy beans and ugh, mushrooms). I really wasn’t in the mood for quesadillas so I decided to be a strong woman and go for the veggie burger but cringed when telling the waiter knowing I was about to eat something with mushrooms. After waiting and waiting, and being anxious to eat, the food came. The whole grain bun was toasted and tasty, as were the onion strings but the veggie burger was a waste of time. I put so much ketchup on it, to disguise the fact that I was eating mushrooms. It’s like what I used to do with meat–a waste of time. Okay, glad I tried it, i guess, but there’s absolutely no reason to force myself to eat mushrooms. I know I don’t like them, end of story. Oh and obviously the place in general is overpriced. No need for me to go back there thank you very much.

Moses
35 Rothschild

Walking around Ibv Gvirol trying to find somewhere new to eat, and I stumbled upon Horkonus Cafe. The waiter told me to sit wherever I want, handed me a menu in English and said, “this is a fucking terrible menu!” “what, why?”-me “It just doesn’t translate well, it doesn’t make much sense and spelling is bad.” I told him it wasn’t a big deal and I’d figure it out considering many places in Tel Aviv don’t even have a menu in English so this was a plus. Okay, so he was right, the menu was pretty bad with spelling and there were VERY few options for me (considering it was a cafe, oh and I’m picky). I ordered a mozzarella and tomato sandwich and he told me they didn’t have anymore so he pulled a chair up next to me and asked me what I liked. Of course I told him, I didn’t like most things. “Do you like eggs?” “Ew, no” “What about fish?” “Nope, and no meat either” “Oy, what about a salad we have lots of salads” and so I ordered the “greens salad with cheese and fruit”, and an iced tea. As usual in Israel, ordering the iced tea was a mistake because it was Nestea, it’s always Nestea but I often give it a chance and hope it’s not going to be Nestea. Oh did I mention, Nestea is disgusting!?! Okay, so my salad came out and it was mixed greens, with a few pieces of gooey cheese and a few pieces of apple. Awesome, that’s really going to fill me up when I haven’t eaten since dinner the night before. I ate the nothing salad, spent more money than it was worth and went and got a falafel down the street. And people wonder why I stick with the same restaurants and same meals?

Horkonus Cafe
Horkonus & Ibn Gvirol

My friend suggested we go to Bar Gurion for lunch one Friday afternoon and I’ve been addicted ever since. I don’t even know what it is that I love so much considering it’s basically a stand on the street (hence the word “bar”) and they often don’t have seating available. They have sandwiches and Israeli breakfast and some other assorted things I don’t know about because I’m so set on my sandwich. The bread is so fresh and then you just point and tell them what ingredients to add to the sandwich. So yeah, it’s a sandwich bar. My sandwich is: brown bread (most people don’t know what “whole wheat” is in Tel Aviv) with pesto, peppers, onions, eggplant, tomatoes, cheese, lettuce and tahini. In that order, every time I go there (which in the past two weeks has been probably 6 times) that’s what I get. It’s 20nis for a sandwich which in this city is totally reasonable. I’m lucky if I find a seat to eat or dig deep for my inner Israeli pushiness to get people to get up. Otherwise, I usually take the sandwich to go.

One time I went and I started telling the guy what I wanted and he turned to another guy working there and in Hebrew said “ani tzrichah dover ivrit.” [I need someone that speaks English] So the other guy helped me. A few days later when I returned, the guy who “didn’t speak English” said hi to me and immediately in English asked me what I wanted, and we continued the ordering process in English. I was so stunned that he actually understood and spoke English that I couldn’t even get myself to ask why he didn’t help me a few days before. Oh, the language barrier…

Bar Gurion
Ben Gurion & Dizengoff