During our meal at Abdalla, which we visited last week, we were thrilled when an Israeli celebrity couple walked in and sat at the table next to us.
We were enjoying our dinner when we looked up and who should be sitting there but acclaimed actor Shuli Rand (known for Ushpizim and many other movies) and his wife, Tsufit Grant, a television personality and ex-wife of Israel football coach Avram Grant.
We felt like teenage groupies and tried not to stare. Later, we did speak to them, and they were totally charming and quite agreeable to having our encounter mentioned.
Celebrities aside, how was the food?
We were invited to sample the food at Abdalla, which is a well-known and well-patronized eatery in Or Yehuda, a town just south of Tel Aviv.
We started our meal with the salad selection (NIS 34 per diner), and there were so many that there was barely enough room on the table to contain them all. There must have been 20 small plates – I lost count, but every vegetable known to man had been commandeered into a salad.
Apart from the mundane, like cabbage and grated carrot, there were many more alluring ones like thinly sliced sautéed mushrooms, cauliflower fried in batter, fresh cooked beetroot, aubergine “caviar,” fried aubergine with chickpeas, red pepper salad, and a separate large helping of hummus with tehina and olive oil, served with laffa – an Iraqi flatbread similar to pita.
We had to be careful not to overindulge, to leave space for the mixed grill for which Abdalla is justly famous and was highly recommended by our very helpful waiter, Lirav.
The meat platter arrived while we were still enjoying the salads. The first item to attract me was the four merguez sausages. These were spicy and hot in every sense, and although perhaps not the healthiest option, knowing that did not detract from the enjoyment of them.
The entrecôte steak had been cut into strips and was cooked to medium rare and was very tender. Also on the platter were beef fillet, pargit, and Iraqi kebab, and we sampled them all and found everything well seasoned and palatable.
My companion, whose love of lamb is becoming something of a fetish, inquired if there was any. Sure enough, a small lamb chop quickly appeared, which did the trick.
Accompanying the main courses were a chopped Israeli salad with an excellent vinaigrette and fairly standard fries.
I drank a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon (NIS 36), and my companion indulged his newfound passion for beer (NIS 22).
For dessert, Lirav brought us “sushi,” which turned out to be a kind of cake rolled into what did indeed look like sushi but was filled with sweet parve cream (NIS 34). We were also required to taste the malabi pudding, which proved to be quite refreshing.
Abdalla was established 30 years ago by an Iraqi immigrant who had spent his life in catering before opening the restaurant. He still comes in to work every day, although he is over 90 and is known as “Saba” (grandfather). For carnivores who like an exotic touch, this is definitely the place.
- Abdalla
- 17 HaMifal Street, Or Yehuda
- Sunday-Thursday, noon-midnight
- Friday: Closed
- Saturday, 6:30 p.m.-midnight
- Kashrut: Or Yehuda Rabbinate
- Wheelchair accessible.
The writer was a guest of the restaurant.