Edna Restaurant

Summer has come, the sun shines and we wanted to get out of Tel Aviv, not too far, in the outskirts to try some true, tasteful and traditional Persian food. Some days ago, we jumped in our car and headed North-East towards Ramat HaSharon to Edna, a Persian Restaurant.

It’s quite amazing to see the change of landscape from Tel Aviv, with neighborhoods leaving space to wider spaces and some interesting residential compounds along the road. Up to Trumpeldor st. in Ramat HaSharon that almost looks like a main road of an American town, surrounded by terrain lots with houses and villas each with its own style. Almost in front of the restaurant there is beautiful squared house, with dark gray walls and light brown wooden doors and what could be a beautiful garden.

The entrance to the restaurant is a small door of a low building covered with green leaves. A guard in front of the entrance kindly opens the door and you suddenly enter a cosy and warm place with an oldish traditional attitude and wooden tables resembling a large living room. We got seated on a corner table which was good for us as the place tends to be quite noisy.

We started with two traditional starters: smoked eggplants with home baked onion bred and fried dumpling “pheiaz” style filling with meat, onion and cinnamon. The eggplants salad was fresh, lemonish and together with the bread it created a warm “homey” flavor. The dumplings were a complete surprise, the meat with the sting of the cinnamon and the white sugar powder that was sprang above gave a joy to the tongue and was comforting as a clever dessert.

For main course I chose the “Mossama” which is made of slices of beef with a hint of eggplants covered with fresh tomato souse, and my partner went with the traditional fish meatballs deepen in what was supposed to be spicy tomato sauce. The main courses come with an optional side dish of plane rice, persian yellow rice, smashed potatoes and baked potatoes. We both went with the yellow rice which was cooked “al dente” and had a touch of raisins that gave it a twist in the taste as much as in the colors. The beef was good, nice and soft in the mouth, but the sauce was a bit too heavy and in fact we couldn’t finish it and took the left overs home. The fish meatballs had a gentle refine taste, but not so much as even closed to be spicy as we expected.

We left Edna with a bag full of left overs which kept us satisfied for a whole another day. We will definitely return to try the other dishes, or at list for the fabulous “pheiaz” dumpling which were like the meaning of “Edna” in Hebrew: tenderness.

Price: 130 shekels + 25 glass of white wine
Web Site: http://www.edna-rest.co.il/
Reserve in advance during week-end

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Herbert Samuel Restaurant in Tel Aviv

In a sunny day after three-months of mild winter, you might end up wandering around the shores of Tel Aviv-Jaffa crowded with people, families and couples strolling on the sea-promenade.

All this happy noise though might sound a bit too much after a week of hard work, and you look for an appropriate reward for your mind and your stomach taste.

Although the exterior view of the place does not represent the one of a charming place, due to its straight lines, rational and boxed characters, entering the place suggests a different atmosphere. The ugly exterior has suddenly disappeared leaving space to a long horizontal window looking over the sea and a lovely Tarkovsky-futuristic Gas Station giving a touch of extraordinary to the view.

Me and my fiancée enter the place, approached by the gentle woman who assists customers to find their table, we need to answer a couple of usual questions about existence in a Shakespearian way, “Did you reserve or did you not reserve?”, “We didn’t”; “Then to seat at the Bar or not to seat at the Bar?”, “The Bar, at the corner so that we can enjoy the view” (actually I find the Bar usually more social-entertaining than the lonely tables).

Now let’s talk about eating and drinking: there are three menus, 1) is the standard menu, 2) is the wine and drinks menu and 3) is the specials menu – and the specials are really specials.

In the tradition of Tel Aviv-sparkling venue, we start with a couple of glasses of Cava to create a fine separation from the outside heat and noise and allow our minds to concentrate on the next-to-be experience.

Going through the menus takes a while and a bit of counseling with the helpful (unlike some other places) Bar tenders.

As an opening I took a delicious place with Red Pepper stripes leaned over a soft green leaf and wet by a gentle spicy sauce. The color, relaxing green and passion red immediately arouse expectations in my eyes and my tongue, rightly satisfied when I started eating the tasty vegetables.

My fiancée took a slice of creamed cheese with Saint-more and probably a touch of Gorgonzola, lightly colored on a dark plate, the strong taste gently hugged by the soft cream caused a little envy in me.

As first course we took a couple of Mediterranean plates, a full sea-bass cooked in the oven with a light tomato-source and potatoes, and a dish of sea fruits. The sea-bass was very tasty, reminding the Italian traditional food-cooking and I felt so rewarded while socializing with the Bar tenders that also offered us a chaser of Stolichnaya.

All this eating was complemented by a couple of white wine caraffes, the first an Israeli wine and the second a French Chablis.

Last, but in this case I should say, not very least, the dessert based on Belgian chocolate and a cream of caramello gave this wonderful experience a strong final energetic taste that we needed to wake up from the dream, to stand-up a leave the place with a smile on our face.

Price: ~350 shekel (2 Starters, 2 Main Courses and 1 Dessert) + 200 shekel for the wine (2 glasses of Cava and 1 Bottle of White Wine).
Address: Prof. Ezekiel Keufman פרופסור יחזקאל קויפמן 6 (Tel Aviv-Yafo)
Phone: 03-5166516
Web site: http://www.herbertsamuel.co.il/

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