The excellent Popina restaurant recently launched a little sister – Itta, a wine bar that originally opened as a summer pop-up but we hope will stay open for fall and winter, too.
Located next to the restaurant, in picturesque Neve Tzedek, the new place retains Popina’s style while offering a cozy and less formal atmosphere.
The venue, led by Chef Orel Kimchi, a veteran restaurateur and owner of Popina, enjoys the proximity of the mother restaurant’s kitchen. Here, the chef decided to create a friendly gathering place for friends who wish to spend a few hours together with good wine and great food. He succeeded: Itta is a wine bar with gourmet restaurant food and a very friendly atmosphere.
Chef Kimchi says that he fantasized about opening a wine bar for many years. “Itta is a wine bar with a variety of wines we love to drink and food we love to eat. She’s young, cheeky, sassy, and accessible. Itta is the Saturday afternoons at my home, with friends and family gathering for a relaxed time together,” he said.
Getting in on the wine bar trend
Wine bars are the new trend in the Israeli culinary world, and they are popping up everywhere you look. But Itta is not just another wine bar. The little sister Kimchi’s well-established gourmet restaurant and one of our favorites, it was opened in Popina’s inner courtyard.
I went there with a good friend to celebrate her birthday, and we had a fantastic evening, coming out a couple of hours later very happy, for the first time in months – and not only thanks to the wine.
We started with a spring roll (NIS 74) that we didn’t expect to see on the wine bar’s menu – but we gave it a chance and never looked back. Unlike the oily spring rolls we all know, that are filled with shredded vegetables, Itta’s version is stuffed with shredded beef mixed with confit garlic and caramelized onion, and only then wrapped in a leaf. We then wrapped it in a lettuce leaf with cilantro and fresh red chili pepper and dipped it in an orange vinaigrette. It was so good we were tempted to ask for a second serving but decided to behave and try other items on the menu.
We continued with a beef crudo (NIS 68), made from a Weisserbraten cut. The crudo (you could call it carpaccio), was served with mustard seed salsa, capers, parsley, and mizuna leaves, and it was also wonderful. The slices were thin but not too thin so you could taste the meat.
Then we moved on to the heavy artillery: spareribs in miso (NIS 96), served with horseradish and mustard leaves, pickled red onions, and pickled radishes. Sticky, messy, and just as good.
We finished with one dessert from the two on the menu – a financier with apples, white chocolate ganache and maple, burnt apple consommé, and an apple and chili salsa (NIS 48). It may sound strange – but it was superb.
And since it is after all a wine bar, we also had wine, starting with two glasses of a French rosé from Provence (NIS 39 per glass), which we both loved. We thought of trying other wines from the well-edited wine list, but decided to stick with the rose we liked so much. So we ordered two more glasses and promised ourselves to return and try the other wines on the menu – for my birthday.
This review would not be complete without mentioning the service, which was polite, knowledgeable, and hospitable, but not overbearing.
Itta is a perfect place. It is a wine bar, offering interesting, somewhat adventurous wines, but unlike other wine bars, this one has access to Kimchi’s gourmet food. It’s not cheap, but if you’re going to splurge, do it here.
- Itta
- Not kosher
- 62 Shabazi Street, Neve Tzedek, Tel Aviv
The writer was a guest of the restaurant