When our two grandsons both got 24-hour leave simultaneously, it was too much of an opportunity to miss. Together with their ecstatic mom, our daughter, we decided we must take them out for a celebratory dinner, and we all met up in the trendy Florentina restaurant in south Tel Aviv for our get-together.
Florentin is a very arty Bohemian part of the city, founded originally by Greek immigrants in the early 1920s. It’s following in the footsteps of nearby Neveh Tzedek in its gentrification plans and is now home to many artists, and full of cool restaurants, bars, and night clubs.
Tel Aviv, the city that never sleeps, is unnaturally quiet, as though it is having an afternoon nap. But the restaurant slowly filled up, and by the time we came to the end of our meal, there wasn’t a spare table.
Eating at an artsy restaurant with IDF soldiers on leave
We ordered two starters from the sharing menu to begin our meal – an Israeli tapas plate consisting of falafel, hard-boiled egg, and chick peas (NIS 34), and the hot mushroom sautéed in butter dish with touches of mozzarella, teriyaki, and pesto (NIS 48).
These were eaten with pitot which had been lightly toasted, making them twice as good. Both starters were excellent, although I found the mushrooms a little too sweet.
For a main course I chose a sweet potato salad, while my regular companion plumped for good old fish-and-chips (NIS 79).
One of our soldiers is vegetarian and chose a fried halloumi-style cheese salad (NIS 64), and the other a noodle dish, Carbonara, with salmon replacing the usual pink unmentionable.
Everyone tucked in with great enthusiasm, attesting to the success of each chosen dish.
The fish-and-chips would not have shamed a chippy owner in Wigan, being as authentic as they come – lots of batter on the fish and long, hand-cut fries – hot and crispy. There were three dipping sauces to help the dish along – ketchup, mayo, and something red and spicy.
We asked for one dessert and five spoons, and we picked cheesecake, which turned out to be a veritable work of art. It was also very good, and the blobs of fresh cream and berries only served to enhance it.
Our two soldiers had a great evening, and we felt we had made a very minor contribution to the war effort.
- Florentina
- Abarbanel 56
- Tel Aviv
- Open: Sun.-Wed., 11 a.m.-11 p.m.; Thurs., 11 a.m.-midnight; Fri. – closed; Sat., one-and-a-half hours after Shabbat to last customer
- Wheelchair accessible
- Kashrut: Tel Aviv Rabbinate
- We happily paid for our meal.