Grilled Cheese Sandwich @ QuickCafé Tel-Aviv

While going out for a much needed work brunch yesterday, a friend suggested we try the food at a nearby QuickCafé branch.

Surprised by the fact they offer actual food (a variety of noodles, rice based dishes, poultry, pasta and fish) and not just the sandwiches and pastry displayed on the counter, I decided a grilled cheese sandwich with tomatoes would suffice, especially since there was an additional salad.

Grilled cheese sandwich, and a freshly chopped cucumber, tomato, cabbage and carrot salad

The food was delicious, and there was an additional mini-dipping-bowl of mustard based vinaigrette that suited both the salad and the sandwich. I also asked for some tahini and they brought it in a shot glass which I found kinda funny.

The priced seemed a bit high at first, but when I got the plate I realized that it wasn't your ordinary panini.

All and all - a positive experience.

Bottom line:
Location: clean, well lit, nicely designed, but quite loud - being on a main road intersection.

Staff: courteous and helpful.

Verdict: will gladly return.

Read this post in Hebrew

10 Sheqel Falafel | HaMasger 73, Tel Aviv

Before I start, allow me to do the math for you:

10nis (New Israeli Sheqel) are the equivalent of 2.77 US Dollars.

Mind you, $2.77 is a great price for any kind of food, especially for a falafel sandwich.

The price range in Israel shifts between 15 and 20nis, with the exception of a handful of places that are trying to brake the market with 6-10nis falafels.

That said, it doesn't matter what you pay if the falafel sucks.

This falafel didn't suck.

We came in at about 15:00; at such a point of the day a good falafel has either ran out of most things fresh, or currently having everything prepared for the second or even third time that day.

And indeed, some of the food ran out already, some of the salads too; and they were prepearing new salads and falafel as we came in, upon order.

The pita was fresh and warm, quite an achievement for three in the afternoon.

I was told that they buy from nearby bakery, so they have fresh inventory at all times.

My falafel was great, crispy and flavorful.

With fresh and pickled cabbage, tomato \ cucumber \ pepper salad, tahini and amba - it was wonderful.

The amba was a reall bouns, when it's good - it's great; Amba is a mango based condiment  it's sweet, sour, tangy, a bit spicy, not unlike chutney, but introduced to Israel by Iraqi Jews.

It's mostly found in falafel \ shawarma places.

Bottom line: I will gladly eat there again (also - very friendly service).

Hardcore Foodie Materials

Food porn show and tell continues:

(each segment's end is marked by a bunch of asterisks) 

This was the day Sriracha returned to the stores. I was so happy - words cannot describe.

Little did I know that the current batch was spicier than the last one, and not as easy on the stomach.

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This is from a place in Petah Tikva called Pizza USA (or USA Pizza if you will). It's easily one of the best pizzas in town. Most of their local pizzas are crap, but some do have that 90's charm, when ingredients were simple and people didn't know any better.

The pizzerias in Petah Tikva have this weird fetish about their names, here's an example of several places' names - located on the same street: Pizza London, Pizza New York, Pizza Paris.

Get it?

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Poppy seed bagel, spicy mustard, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, grilled eggplant, pinkish roast beef that was over heated and became a tad grey.

Delicious.

A take-away from Tal Bagelsת Karlibach 41, Cinemateque Qtr-Tel aviv.

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Whole wheat noodles, pork, chicken, bacon, broccoli, sprouts, bok choy, cashews and crushed peanuts -  stir fried with a secret sauce.

Eaten at: Giraffe officer's club, 21 Ha'arbaa street, Tel-Aviv

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Bought a sleeve of ice cream wafers, discovered they were randomly numbered.

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Shimeji mushrooms, bleu cheese, balsamic vinegar and chestnuts. 

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Bought a hard-ish avocado, got impatient and fried it, hoping that would make it go soft.

Apparently it was a horrible idea, the end product was bitter and only semi-edible.

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Double-decker sandwich, a corned beef monstrosity.

Mustard and horseradish sauce, tomato and lettuce on wholewheat. Two gherkins and ten minutes of mouthgasms.

Eaten at: Ruben, Florentine 22, Tel-aviv (they have several venues).

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A local store started selling Wonka Nerds. Oh happy days!

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Got bored, squeezed juice from a grapefruit, orange, lemon and a clementine, although it might have been a tangerine or a mandarin.

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My friends went for a vacation in the UK and all they got me was this amazing hot chipotle BBQ sauce from Bodean's BBQ.

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Sambousek (also sambusak) with pizza sauce, cheese and olives, covered with a zaatar & sesame decoration.

Delicious, lovely and all the melting stringy cheese is complimented by the crisp of the exterior.

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Dulce de leche doughnut, say no more.
(I have no idea where they are from, someone brought a box to the office and people gathered around it like hungry vultures, all was gone after less than a minute)

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Ultra thin pizza that goes by 1/4's of a pie. So thin that it's just a bit thicker than an average tortilla.

So freaking delicious. They're called Agvania pizza, there are branches all over Tel-Aviv.

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Chicken tikka, plain grilled chicken, rice, fried, couscous and steamed green beans.

Quite eclectic but very good. And a small tahini bowl on the side!

Eaten at: Tajine, Hamasger no.45, Tel-Aviv.

Jaffa : Shipudey Zika

The following post revolves around the last two visits I've made to Shipudey Zika (shipud = skewer), located  on Jaffa's Yefet street. A small place with a welcoming staff and really great food.
The first one happened on my birthday, the second one was on a holiday, with all the streets overwhelmed with local and foreign tourists, mixed in with the occasional foodies and locals.
We were heading to some other place, but on the way we decided to change our route, Zoe said she was craving and all the everyone else were easily convinced.

Guess which is lamb and which are beef

On my birthday we arrived at 3am. There was only one last group of diners and they were just finishing up. Our order was taken quickly, and we were served just as fast, with the speed reserved for people closing up and dying to get home.
Nevertheless, the service was gracious, kind and very professional. At 3am that's quite an achievement. 

A great opener

Zika offer great VFM (value for money) ratio. As soon as you sit down your table is loaded with freebies. Wonderful hummus, hand sliced fries, a variety of salads, fresh soft pitas, falafel and deep-fried cauliflower if it's in the season.

The deal goes like this: all of the above is free, as long as you order something from the meat menu. One-three people usually get one round for free. If you're four you'll get two plates of fries and two bowls of hummus, and so on and so forth. Refills are pretty cheap.

If you're not planning to buy a main course - fear not, the prices are still pretty low. Wait, that's not all! The meat is not that expensive either! We usually go for beef, lamb and chicken skewers, but if you wanna go mad there are also internal organs: hearts, kidneys, tonsils and there's even udder.

Hummus, pitas, salads, salsa, the good life

Thinking of Zika makes me hungry, so does looking at all these pics.
And it's not like I haven't eaten in a while, there's a half eaten burrito near my laptop, I'm not gonna finish it anytime soon, I'm not really hungry, but thinking back of Zika makes me drool.

The only thing better than great food is great food you don't have to pay for

Anyhow, that visit after my birthday ended real quick. We ate fast and took two cabs home. I was drunk after heavily celebrating and for a moment I woke myself up snoring.

The food just drop-kicked me, well, the food and all the booze, I mixed all sorts of crazy; arak, Feigling (fig vodka), lots of hard cider, beers and a few glasses of Baileys. 

That was sure a fun night out.

 

Golden fries

 
The other visit was something else altogether.

I wanted a Zilber roast beef sandwich so we were heading to the Jaffa Port market.

On the way we ran in to obstacles in the form of aforementioned tourists, slow-walking families, people taking bike rides on the sidewalk, all over the pavement and the boardwalk. 

There was also an international photography festival going on, so lots of hipsters with pro \ vintage cams, fashionable folks, pseudo artists with modern haircuts and just your average curious crowds, sitting all over the place, making it impossible to get around.

A taste of the good life

We swiftly changed course, Shipudey Zika wasn't far away; we were sure that Zika Hamdan's place will have a table just for us. That wasn't the case, but we got a table after about four minutes, which was pretty good for such a packed day.

The party started.

Om nom nom

The friends we came told us that it was quite a while since they last visited a place of this sort.

Perhaps it was the fact they aren't much fun and they treat food as something functional, just an action you do and then go on with your day. They said they rather save up or spend their money on trees instead of what they called "wasting".

We on the other hand tried to explain how pampering yourself with new tastes improves your mood, how the way is just as important and  filled with experiences as the eating, and that memories of fun times are surely more important than bong hits.

 

Beef on the skewer and lamb on the plate

At that point we got our food, so the conversation died and the eating began.

I recall mocking my friends in my thoughts while chewing,  and later losing my train of thought when the grilled eggplant arrived to the table.

It was amazing, look at it, it's here, below. Served with tahini, soft chickpeas, paprika, olive oil and fresh parsley.

Grilled eggplant, tahini, soft chickpeas, parsley, paprika and olive oil

It was a good day in Jaffa. We passed by a church and the bells tolled, later we heard the muezzin singing form a nearby mosque and at some point we saw people dancing with torah books (it was the Simhat Torah holiday, when people take the holy scriptures out of the synagogues and walk around the building to celebrate the end of the torah and the beginning of reading it anew).  

The wind was chilly even though it was still mid-summer, there were happy dogs, cute kids, horses, and people seemed happy.

Too bad it was the last holiday for quite a long time.

All things that are good

Zika is a place  you can always go back to. The food is great, great and  affordable, the location is comfortable, there's parking and nearby bus stops, and it's a close walk from the port which is near the beach which is kinda near everything else. You don't even notice how you get back to Tel-Aviv by food.
People are nice there, in Jaffa in general and especially at Zika, going there you can easily start thinking of peace and coexistence, after all it's easier to like people when they make awesome food. 

Food thoughts: Italian stuff and sandwiches

Something is terribly wrong with the way Domino's make cheesy bread around here. It's dry, not cheesy enough and the dips are not that great either. At first I hoped it was a one time thing but after a few orders I realized this is just the way they prepare it and that sucks.

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I was stuck at work and hungry as hell. Someone said they're ordering from a place I hate - there was not choice, it was either that or starving. I went for the pasta deal, hoping it will suck less than the other stuff I've tried. To my surprise it was pretty good, the salad was fresh and its vinaigrette sauce was heavenly; the pasta was cooked to perfection with a sauce that resembled a home made sauce with rich flavors of fresh tomatoes; there was freshly bottled lemonade, a bun that came in handy for the sauce that was left, some butter and a lemon muffin for desert. The grated parmesan was fresh and rich in flavor (I used it on both the pasta and the salad), and there was even a stick of butter that also complimented the bun. As if that wasn't enough, it wasn't even expensive!

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Pesto and mustard, corned beef, in a sweet sesame roll. There were bits of kabanos (Polish smoked dry sausage) on the side, and some disgusting olives. The sandwich was okay but I was promised this places is incredible. It wasn't. 

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Just some roast beef in a baguette with tomatoes and mustard. Nothing special to look at but sure felt good in my mouth.

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This pizza was dry, with a taste of burned even. The roquette and arugula mix was not fresh at all, it might have been just old or overheated in the oven. This pizza was an epic fail.

Food porn: sandwiches, hummus, noodles

People looking from the outside might think that I keep eating variations of the same foods all over again. Sure, some veggies, a sandwich, hummus, meat, noodles. Yeah, I guess that's about right.

Are not all foods are variations on a limited amount of ingredients?

Is music not a variation on the same 7 notes all over again?

This is from a new place called Mikveh Sandwich Bar. They close up even before I get off work so this was on my day off. I tried two sandwiches and they were pretty good. Not the best ever but they are singled out by the fact that MSB bake their own bread which is a Moroccan semi flat mini loaf and it's wonderful. They also make most of the sauces, cure all of the meats and make the most amazing spicy home-fries.

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Just a lil' something I made at home. Cherry tomatoes in balsamic vinegar over sprouts. The meat in the sandwich is from a deli and the bread is also bought but the I did create the bell pepper spread inside it.

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A great plate by Assaf, I've previously mentioned it - it is wonderful.

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A corned beef sandwich that really deserves respect ad appreciation. Just look at it!

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This is called The Imperial New Dish: whole flour egg noodles, chicken, pork, bacon, green veggies, spicy sauce and cashew nuts. I also added shredded peanuts on top and there was a party in my mouth and belly.