I’m a big fan of the Friday breakfast tradition. I remember when our kids were little and they had nursery school on Fridays, it was a lovely feeling to go to a restaurant for breakfast on Friday morning with babysitting provided free of charge by the state. And if you time it right, and eat enough, you should just be getting hungry when it’s time for Shabbat dinner.
There are 65 branches of Café Landwer all over Israel, as well as 11 in North America. Fourteen of them are kosher, and a few, like this one in Rehavia, are Mehadrin. Landwer Rehavia just opened a few weeks ago with both indoor and outdoor space on the corner of Ben-Maimon and Aza streets.
What's on the menu?
It was a little too hot to sit outside Friday morning, so we chose an inside table. Everything here is just a little nicer than a usual café. The tables are spaced far enough apart that you can have a conversation. The coffee (and I pride myself on being a coffee snob) is excellent, and the breakfast for two comes on a large tray with unique dips like pickled red peppers and American-style tuna salad (NIS 152) as well as two hot drinks and two cold drinks.
I didn’t feel like an omelet, so my favorite husband ordered the traditional breakfast for one (NIS 68), which had many of the same items, with fewer salads. He said his omelet was cooked perfectly. The breads are all made especially for Landwer in a factory, and the breakfast for two comes with a basket of freshly baked breads, including a delicious focaccia. His one complaint about his breakfast was that the one whole-grain roll wasn’t enough for all of the spreads.
I ordered the smoked salmon pretzel (NIS 41), which was cream cheese, smoked salmon, and dill on a pretzel roll. I also ordered a cold coffee, which was excellent.
Here, I have to mention Reihan, the restaurant’s manager, who seemed to be in five places at once. Many of the servers were new (and looked to be about 12 although she assured me they are all at least 17) and they were frequently coming to ask her questions. As we were chatting, a server spilled a cup of coffee from a tray onto a table and onto a customer. She was at the table in seconds, apologizing profusely and cleaning up the mess.
She checked plates going out from the kitchen, answered questions about the menu from customers, and is the best restaurant manager I’ve ever seen.
“Listen,” she told me, as we were finishing up our breakfast. “I really want you to come back for dinner. We have a unique menu and you can’t write a review without trying it.”
WE CAME back and this time sat on the large outdoor balcony, enjoying the breeze. I ordered a raspberry mule cocktail, and my husband ordered a “super shake,” a concoction of banana, mango, and spirulina, which is supposed to be very healthy.
The shake was very green and very delicious.
I chose a roasted Sicilian eggplant (NIS 51), which was a roasted eggplant in a Sicilian tomato sauce, parmigiana style. The slight smokiness from the eggplant gave the Italian-style dish a bit of Israeli flavor. My husband chose one of his favorite appetizers, the crispy cheese arancini (NIS 49), which he said were excellent.
For the main dish we shared a rustic salad (NIS 69) of all kinds of fresh vegetables and fresh mozzarella, served on a hot focaccia. We also shared salmon à la puttanesca (NIS 76), which was a dish invented by the chain’s chef, Tomer Amedi, who was there that evening. The dish was a mix of pasta shells filled with garlic, chili, and anchovies, served with chunks of salmon, and was different from anything I’ve had before. I’m not usually a fan of puttanesca, but I enjoyed this one.
Amedi has an impressive culinary background, including working with Assaf Granit to open Machneyuda and Yudale, and several years in London as the chef at Palomar. He said that Landwer Rehavia is the first branch with a new menu.
“I want to take you on a trip from southern Spain, through Italy, Greece, and even a little bit of Lebanon and Turkey,” he said.
Each Landwer branch will have dishes tailored to its clientele.
As this branch is mehadrin, he said, he has only two dishes that combine fish and dairy, as some haredim don’t combine these two.
I thought the prices were reasonable and offered excellent value for money. The dishes are very large and can be shared. There is also a children’s menu, and Amedi said they hope to have business lunches soon.
Now for the “pièce de résistance” – dessert. I’ve been trying to stay away from desserts, but Amedi told me I just had to try something new on the menu.
What came was a praline mousse (NIS 52) that was large enough to feed a family and one of the best desserts I’ve ever had. Worth every minute at the gym that I’ll have to do to burn it off.
- Landwer Rehavia
- 1 Ben-Maimon
- Hours: Sunday-Thursday, 8:30 a.m.-10 p.m.
- Kashrut: Jerusalem Rabbinate Mehadrin
The writer was a guest of the restaurant.