The entrance to La Casa

Ambiance

La Casa doesn’t have ambiance per se. The atmosphere is quite plain, but the restaurant is clean and bright.

The seating area in La Casa

Cuisine

The cuisine at La Casa is excellent. The dishes are tasty and are served aesthetically and tastefully.

My wife and I ordered egg rolls and french fries as appetizers and an entrecote steak and stir-fried noodles for our main courses. The egg roll was served on a plate with fresh wheat sprouts and the egg roll was decorated with red sweet and sour sauce – both attractive and delicious. The french fries were crispy and tasty and were brought in a small strainer lined with decorative paper.

Egg rolls with sprouts decorated with a drizzle of sweet and sour sauce

French fries – piping hot and delicious

The entrecote steak was the highlight of the meal. The steak was tender and juicy, and it came with a large portion of green beans and rice. Everything was wonderfully seasoned and delicious, and in my opinion, this steak can compete with similar dishes in much more expensive restaurants.

Delicious Entrecote steak served with rice and green beans

We ordered the fried noodles with chicken meat, but if you prefer, you can order it with beef, chicken or vegetarian meat. The dish was delicious and very generous.

Stir fried noodles with chicken

To sum it up, if you are looking for a meat restaurant with tasty food, reasonable prices and the top of the line kashrut supervision, La Casa is a great choice. If you are looking for a restaurant with ambiance (and higher prices), check out other options. I can recommend Rodriguez Grill Bar, Lechem Basar, and Grill Bar, all of which are kosher mehadrin with the best hechsherim.

Restaurant Details

Restaurant name: La Casa
Address: 12 Yaakov Meir St., Jerusalem
Telephone: 02-502-3807
Kosher supervision: Badatz HaEida Haharedit
It is highly recommended to request to see the kashrut certificate to verify that it is still valid.

Directions

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The post La Casa Grill & Wok – Delicious Cuisine with Badatz Supervision appeared first on Mehadrin Restaurants in Israel.

Kosher mehadrin restaurants are popping up all over the country, in light of the growing demand of the Torah observant public to eat in quality eateries with strict adherence to kashrut. For those looking for a quality meat meal in Tel Aviv, Lechem Basar is a great choice.

Ambience

Being located near the sea, the port’s promenade winds right past Lechem Basar. You’ll see many families strolling together while taking in the sights and enjoying the ocean breeze.

Lechem Basar has a very large outdoor seating area which includes tables and sun umbrellas spaced out on a wooden deck. The restaurant also has a spacious indoor seating area. The design of the restaurant is not fancy per se, but it is definitely pleasant, attractive and clean.

Cuisine

Lechem Basar has quite a few kosher mehadrin branches, and new ones are being opened regularly. I have already written about Lechem Basar in Jerusalem and in Beit Shemesh. Those who have already visited one of the branches know that the menu is varied and the food is well done (don’t worry you can order medium, medium rare etc as well).

Based on our past experience, my wife and I knew that the dishes were generous so we decided to order one appetizer and one main dish and to split them between us. For the appetizer, we ordered roasted eggplant which is half an eggplant covered with an abundance of tehina, tomato salsa and spices served with braised bread. The eggplant was savory, and the serving style was aesthetic.

Other appetizers that can be ordered include stir-fried mushrooms, lamb zucchini (small zucchinis filled with lamb brago), salmon ceviche, salads and more.

For our main course, we ordered lamb siniya, which is prepared and brought to your table in a stainless steel pan. The lamb meat is cooked as a ragout, a stew with the lamb meat, vegetables and spices. The pan came very hot, wrapped in dough and served on a wooden tray. The dish was delicious and quite filling.

There are a variety of main dishes, including baked salmon fillet, grilled spring chicken, entrecote steak (prime rib) served on the bone, aged beef fillet, and whole sea bass served with sautéed vegetables, white wine and confit, just to name a few. In short, there are no lack of possibilities.

Service

The service at Lechem Basar was very good. The waitresses were courteous, and all the dishes arrived on time. I happened to talk to the owner of the restaurant, and I found him to be very personable and friendly. Apparently the good natured spirit of the owner has trickled down to the staff.

Restaurant Details

Restaurant name: Lechem Basar
Address: Hanger 14, Tel Aviv Port
Telephone: 03-603-1081
Kosher supervision: Rabbi Machpud
It is highly recommended to request to see the kashrut certificate to verify that it is still valid.

Directions

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The post Lechem Basar at the Tel Aviv Port – A Very Worthwhile Mehadrin Steakhouse appeared first on Mehadrin Restaurants in Israel.

Ambiance

Upon entering Deca, you immediately notice the classy interior design. The dining area has soft, pleasant lighting, white tablecloths, wine glasses on the table, and other attractive design elements. The resulting ambiance leads to a relaxed and pleasant dining atmosphere.

White tablecloths, professional lighting and other nice touches provide a high class atmosphere

Cuisine

There are restaurants that offer a selection of fish dishes, but also offer types of food like Italian dishes and the like. Deca is not like that. At Deca, they focus exclusively on fish dishes and that’s their expertise. The dishes vary in the type of fish, the method of preparation and the aesthetic presentation of the dishes.

As can been seen in the photos below a great amount of attention is put into presentation of the dishes so that they will be attractive, colorful, and aesthetically inviting. Rich colors are achieved through the use of green leafy vegetables, slices of bright yellow lemon, and a variety of colorful cooked vegetables that accompany the fish. The variety in the way the dishes are served also adds beauty and interest: some of the dishes are served on attractive, flat trays and others arrive on plates of various shapes and colors.

Deca has two menus: the business menu and the evening menu.

Many of the appetizers are interesting and unique. For example, you can order bouillabaisse, which is a fish soup with a hint of orange flavor, pernod (an aperitif) and coriander. There are other interesting offerings including kebab buri, mushroom tortellini, and salmon tartar.

Among the main courses you’ll also find a variety of dishes such as grilled whole sea bream (served with roasted mushrooms, herbs and lemon sauce) and burnt salmon fillet (served with fresh pasta, olive oil, butter, lemon juice, anchovies and grated pecorino cheese). Additional offerings include corvina fillet on black pasta and roasted red tuna on a beet and potato gratin (see below).

Red tuna fillet on a beet and potato gratin

Corvina fillet on black pasta

Sea bass fillet wrapped in pasta

Creme brulee

Restaurant details

Restaurant name: Deca
Address: 10 HaTaasiya St., Tel Aviv
Telephone: 03-562-9900
Opening hours: Sun-Thurs 12:00-23:00
Kashrut: Tel Aviv Rabbinate Mehadrin
It is highly recommended to request to see the kashrut certificate to verify that it is still valid.

Menu

The business menu

The appetizers

The main courses

Directions

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Atza’s location seen from Yirmiyahu street

Atza offers a very large variety of sushi and lots of stir-fry and other Asian dishes as well, and I was impressed by the quality and taste of the dishes and the attention given to the visual presentation of the dishes.

Atza is located, along with several other restaurants and businesses, in a small, covered outdoor mall built on the groundfloor of a new building complex in Romema.

If you’re arriving by foot, access to Atza is from Yirmiyahu Street, but there is a large, new underground car park right underneath the building complex (which when I last checked was still free). You cannot get to the underground parking from Yirmiyahu street. You need to drive first to Malchei Yisrael street (which is parallel to Yirmiyahu street) and then turn onto Brandeis Street. The parking garage is at the end of the block on the left (before the traffic light).

The Ambiance

The atmosphere and decor at Atza is extremely simple, and I think they deliberately did not invest much money in designing the place. The restaurant owners realized that what would draw people, particularly those interested in mehadrin sushi, is quality food at a reasonable price.

The seating area inside the restaurant is not spacious, but it’s much roomier at the tables outside. The outdoor seating area is covered, so you won’t get broiled in direct sunlight in the summer or rained on in the winter. The restaurant turns on outdoor gas heaters in the cold winter months.

The dining area inside the restaurant

The outdoor seating area

The Cuisine

The sushi makings, ie the fish and the veggies, look fresh and of high quality. You can see them in the windowed refrigerator at the ordering counter. Behind the counter you can watch the sushi chefs busily rolling out all sorts of sushi delicacies.

The sushi fixings in the display window

Atza has a menu in the old format, ie printed on paper, but they also have a digital menu on tablets with pictures of the dishes in full color. It is very convenient to browse the electronic menu.

The vegetarian and spicy dishes are marked on the menu so that you can find what you like and avoid stuff that you don’t.

Among the appetizers you will find chicken nuggets, vegetable egg rolls, spicy chicken wings, stir-fried broccoli and more.

Vegetable egg roll appetizer

For the main course, your main problem will be that there so many types of sushi and other Asian dishes that it’s hard to choose. They try to help you out by having a section in their sushi offerings called “the recommended ones” (המומלצים). They include all kinds of inside-out rolls (with the rice outside) with different combinations of fish and vegetables inside. The rolls are wrapped with a variety thinly sliced goodies like avocado, teriyaki, sweet potato in tempura, and panko, to name just a few.

Sushi maki with tuna, avocado and tempura

50/50 sushi roll – looks yummy, right?

Chinese chicken salad

Top: stir fried broccoli with meat, Bottom: stir fried broccoli

Sushi sandwiches

For people that want to order a joint dish and let their taste buds experience a bunch of types of sushi, there are sushi combination platters, including vegetarian and vegan combinations, combinations with sushi sandwiches and more.

Last but not least, I want to mention why Atza is presently very unique from a kosher perspective. About a year ago I attended a class given by Rabbi Moshe Katz, the head of the Kosharot organization, about the kosher issues that one must be aware of regarding fish. The rabbi mentioned that there was a serious problem that was discovered regarding the nori or seaweed paper eaten with most sushi. It was found that all of the nori was found to have insects in it, and that made it non-kosher.

Since that class, I did not partake of sushi with nori until I found out that Rabbi Rubin flew to China, investigated several nori factories and was able to arrange for a factory to produce nori without the problem of insects.

At the time of writing this post, I don’t know of any other restaurants using this kosher nori. If you know of others, please let me know using the contact form on the website.

Special nori seaweed paper with Rabbi Rubin’s hechsher

The Service

During my visits to Atza, I found the waitresses to be quick and courteous, and when the restaurant was not mobbed during peak hours, the food arrived fairly quickly. According to Google, the busiest times at Atza are Sunday and Monday from 20:00 to 21:00.

I highly recommend Atza for the excellent food and service and the top of the line kosher mehadrin supervision.

Restaurant details

Restaurant name: Atza Sushi Bar
Address: 9 Yirmiyahu St., Romema, Jerusalem
Telephone: 02-502-6232
Opening hours: Sun-Thu from 12:00-23:00 | Fri 6:00-13:00 | Motzei Shabbat 20:30-23:30
Kashrut: Rabbi Rubin
It is highly recommended to request to see the kashrut certificate to verify that it is still valid.

Menu

Appetizers from the menu

Recommended sushi rolls

Asian dishes

Directions

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Shakshuka Zavitan

A view of Cafe Clara from the outside

Ambiance

The ambiance at Cafe Clara is simple, but quite pleasant. The are several seating areas that you can choose from. There is an area of booths which provide a bit more private dining experience and then there is the general seating area which spacious and bright.

Booth seating area

Seating area with regular chairs and tables

Cuisine

Cafe Clara offers a variety of dishes for breakfasts (eggs, bagels and more). For lunch and dinner there is a nice selection of Italian dishes, attractive and wholesome salads and sandwiches with different types of cheeses, salmon or tuna salad. You can see the complete menu below.

To get an impression of the dishes and their presentation, see the pictures below.

Clara’s Salad

Golan Salad

Mushroom tortellini

Beet ravioli

Restaurant details

Restaurant name: Cafe Clara
Address: Industrial Zone, Katzrin, Golan Heights
Phone: 04-832-9457
Opening hours: Sunday to Thursday 9:00-22: 00 | Fri 9:00-14: 30
Kashrut: Katzrin Rabbinate Mehadrin
It is always recommended to check that the kashrut certificate has not changed and is valid

Directions

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See the map below showing the correct location of Cafe Clara. I want to note that at the time of publication the location marked on Google Maps is incorrect.

Location of Cafe Clara in Katzrin’s industrial area

The post Cafe Clara – Italian Restaurant in Katzrin (Mehadrin) appeared first on Mehadrin Restaurants in Israel.

The entrance to Dave Bagels on Pines St.

At Dave Bagels you will find bagels and baguettes that can be filled with deli and other meats. The restaurant is under the top-notch kosher mehadrin supervision of Badatz Harav Rubin.

Dave’s is a street food joint so don’t expect ambiance per se, but the atmosphere is pleasant but simple.

The dining area

The main two types of food at Dave Bagels are meat sandwiches and salads. You can order a sandwich with different types of bagels or baguettes, white or whole wheat, regular or toasted.

What’s unique about Dave Bagels is that they offer American-style deli meats like roast beef, corned beef, spicy beef and turkey breast in addition to chicken breast, schnitzel, chopped liver, meatballs, egg salad or omelets that your sandwich can be filled with.

After getting the basics completed, you can choose between the variety of sauces and vegetables you want added to your creation.

Deli meats on display

Baguette with corned beef

Salad and vegetable fixings

You can also order salads with different types of meat, and there are also specialty dishes such as spicy chicken wings, cholent, chicken nuggets and jumbo hotdogs.

The menu, restaurant details and directions appear below.

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Restaurant Details

Restaurant’s name: Dave Bagels
Address: 3 Pines Street, Davidka Square, Jerusalem
Phone: 02-650-0727
Opening Hours: Sun-Wed 10:30 – midnight
Thursday 10:30-02: 00
Kashrut: Badatz Rabbi Rubin
It is always recommended to check that the Kashrut Certificate has not changed and is valid

Menu

Meat menu

Salad menu

Directions

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In recent years, quite a few restaurants have opened up in the First Station, but until now there were only a few restaurants that were mehadrin. One of those restaurants, Lechem Basar, is one of the better mehadrin steakhouses in Jerusalem.

When I found out that Fiori had become mehadrin, and I decided to check it out because I have always liked the ambiance at the First Station.

My wife and I arrived in Talbieh around 7pm looking forward to a nice evening together and a fun culinary experience. Parking can be a real challenge unless you know about the parking lot hidden behind the First Station. The entrance is on Derech Hebron St. If you’re coming from David Remez Street, make the right on Derech Hebron, and you’ll see a small road that forks off to the right about 80 meters from the traffic light (note that this is a paid parking lot during the day).

The Ambiance

The First Station is an outdoor mall with a boardwalk. Fiori is surrounded by windows and is located smack in the middle of the boardwalk, providing a view of the historic train station and all the passers-by.

The dining area

Fiori’s dining area is not large, and the space between the tables is not so spacious, but we did not feel cramped. When we arrived, we found that the place was packed, but fortunately a table had just opened up.

Fiori’s open kitchen

We immediately noticed the kitchen which is open to the dining area. At the entrance to the kitchen is a deli-type refrigerator with a large assortment of cheeses that can be bought and taken home. A green chalkboard hangs from the ceiling with various messages and drawings on it. On the surrounding walls are shelves with a large selection of wines and liquors.

The Cuisine

Fiori’s menu has a nice selection of Italian dishes. All of the pastas are made by the house, and we found them to be superb.

For appetizers, we ordered the soup du jour, which was artichoke soup, and melanzane alla parmigiana, which is roasted eggplant in a tomato sauce with melted mozzarella and parmesan cheeses. Both dishes arrived very hot, just as they should. The soup was creamy and delicious, and the melanzane alla parmigiana was quite awesome. The eggplant was tender and flavorful, the sauce was well seasoned, and there was plenty of cheese.

Artichoke soup was plenty hot and tasty

Melanzane alla parmigiana

For your main course you can either choose from the recommended dishes that include combinations of pastas and sauces, or you can decide on your own combination from the list of options. You choose the shape of the pasta (short pastas, long pastas, ravioli etc.), the type of pasta (regular, whole wheat, spinach) and then decide on the desired sauce (tomato, tomato & pesto, cream etc) and some of the available add-ons include, olives, mushrooms, eggplant, blue cheese and more).

We ordered the Primavera with spinach fettuccine. This dish is usually a bit spicy, but my wife doesn’t like spicy foods so we passed on that (funny that my wife comes from a Sephardic family and doesn’t like spicy foods, and I’m super Ashkenazic and I love spicy cuisine). We also ordered spinach fettuccine with truffle cream sauce.

Fettuccine Premavera

Spinach fettuccine with truffle cream sauce

The spinach pasta was truly excellent, both the texture and the flavor, and the sauces we chose were delicious. The main dishes also arrived piping hot, and of course this adds to the quality of the dish.

The Service

We found the service at Fiori to be outstanding. Our waitress was quick and very pleasant. All our dishes came at the right timing, and we had no problem getting the waitress’s attention when we needed something.

I spoke with the owner, who also manages the restaurant. He was very friendly and was happy to respond to our questions.

Restaurant Details

Restaurant Name: Fiori
Address: The First Station, David Remez 4, Jerusalem
Phone: 02-587-4486
Hours: Sun-Wed 11am-11:30pm
Thursday: 11am until the last customer leaves
Friday: 10:30am – an hour before Shabbat begins
Saturday night: An hour after the end of Shabbat until the last customer leaves
Kashrut: Jerusalem Rabbinate Mehadrin
It’s highly recommended to verify that the kashrut certificate is still valid

Directions

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Outdoor seating area and entrance

Hummus Eliyahu is kosher mehadrin under the supervision of the Jordan Valley Rabbinate.

As you might have guessed, the main dish on the menu is hummus served with pita, but that being said, there are a variety of extras that you can order with your hummus: sauteed onions, sauteed mushrooms, whole chickpeas, beans, eggplant, shakshuka, vegetarian shawarma, and a hard boiled egg.

Besides hummus, you can order two types of salads, soup, baked french fries and mashed potato balls.

Restaurant Details:

Restaurant Name: Hummus Eliyahu
Address: Edison Park, Jordan Valley
Telephone: 04-958-5998
Hours: Sun-Thurs 9:30AM-8:30PM | Fri 8:30AM-3:30PM
Kashrut: Jordan Valley Rabbinate Mehadrin
It’s highly recommended to verify that the kashrut certificate hasn’t changed

Menu:

Hummus plates with extras

Directions:

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The restaurant has a shaded seating area outside for those who want to enjoy the fresh air, but the seating area inside the restaurant is also nice.

The main offering on Hummus Eliyahu’s menu is hummus served on a plate with all sorts of extras you can order: whole chickpeas, fava beans, tahini, sauteed onion or mushrooms, eggplant and a hard-boilded egg.

Those who prefer to eat something other than hummus can order shakshuka, soup, salad, baked french fries, and mashed potato balls.

Shaded seating area outside

Seating area inside the restaurant

Restaurant Details:

Name: Hummus Eliyahu Katzrin
Address: Eitan mall, Katzrin, Golan Heights
Telephone: 04-8218668
Hours: Sun-Thurs 10AM-7PM | 10AM-2PM
Kashrut: Katzrin Rabbinate Mehadrin
It’s highly recommended to verify that the kashrut certificate hasn’t changed

Menu:

Hummus Eliyahu’s menu

Directions:

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Grilled forel

Ambiance:

Before I went up to the restaurant I was very skeptical – what kind of ambiance could a restaurant located above a convenience store have? But to my pleasant surprise, when I walked inside, I was very impressed by what I saw. The restaurant is beautifully laid out with high-quality lighting, white fabric tablecloths on the tables, colorful cloth napkins and decorative hangings on the walls having to do with the sea. Another really nice touch that adds grace and beauty are three large illuminated aquariums that are sunken into the walls and filled with fish. These fish look out at the diners with a smile because they are bystanders and do not end up on the diners’ plates.

Classy table settings, the lighting and the aquariums create a beautiful ambiance

Cuisine

The menu includes a variety of grilled or fried fish served along with a slice of lemon, sauce and chips on attractive plates. Before the main dishes are served, diners start their meal with a selection of house salads.

Fried mullet

Wine rack with a nice variety of wines

Restaurant Details:

Restaurant Name: Ahavat Hayam
Address: Sderot Ben Tzvi 9 (above the Yellow convenience store)
Telephone: 02-623-6767
Hours: Sun-Thurs 12:00-Midnight | Motzash: after Shabbat until Midnight
Kashrut: Jerusalem Rabbinate (mehadrin)
It’s highly recommended to verify that the kashrut certificate hasn’t changed

Menu:

Ahavat Hayam’s menu

Directions:

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