The veteran Goshen is a kosher outpost on Tel Aviv's Nahalat Binyamin Street.
By BUZZY GORDONGoshen(photo credit: OMRI SHAPIRA)
One of the storefront restaurants along a trendy stretch of eateries on Nahalat Binyamin St. in downtown Tel Aviv is the biblically named Goshen, a rather stodgy steakhouse furnished with bare wooden tables and uninvitingly hard chairs.While the evening’s meal would turn out a pleasant surprise, we first noticed that while diners’ temperatures were checked upon entering, there was inadequate social distancing between the tables. Outside on the narrow sidewalk, on the evening of our visit, the few forlorn tables remained empty as the inside rooms filled up.There are no cocktails, but there is a limited wine list, with very few vintages available by the glass. Nevertheless, we did enjoy our glasses of rosé (NIS 35) and merlot (NIS 55), both from Israel’s well-regarded Recanati Winery.The disposable menus (in three languages) comprises two sections: appetizers (NIS 52-64) and main courses (NIS 80-265). Not surprisingly, there are hardly any vegetarian/vegan options in either category.As we waited for our starters, we munched on the house focaccia (NIS 26), which was served with three dips. The starkly naked bread itself was unremarkable, but the mild tomato salsa and zesty herb dip (reminiscent of pesto or chimichurri) were both excellent. The appetizers came just in time to keep us from filling up on the focaccia.The ceviche, while not the advertised salmon and pine nuts, was a generous serving of raw white fish tossed with red onion, radishes and cherry tomatoes and dressed with tehina. The fish was exceedingly fresh and the dish very satisfying.The second appetizer was hanger steak yakitori – two small bamboo skewers of morsels of steak, on a bed of arugula and eggplant cream. We enjoyed the two components of this starter separately, lest the latter overpower the former. The steak, drizzled with aioli, was delicious, while the mound of greens mixed with eggplant cream was refreshing, unusual and intriguing.The main courses started off with a major disappointment: The veal prime rib, which you don’t find on Israeli menus very often, was offered only as a steak weighing more than a kilogram, suitable for three people, while we were only two. Fortunately, the two steaks we did order made up for the letdown.The filet mignon medallions come in three sizes, of which we chose the smallest, 300 grams. Still, it was three sizable discs of prime beef that were surprisingly succulent for such lean cuts. The filet was accompanied by a large bone filled with outstanding marrow, as well as a small tossed salad in a pleasant dressing.The second steak was 300 grams of aged entrecôte, a glistening slab of well-marbled beef that was juicy and flavorful. The mashed potatoes it came with turned out to be superb, fluffy sweet potatoes.
Desserts (NIS 26-45) are the usual suspects for a kosher meat restaurant. Once again, our first choice was unavailable, so we settled for the triple chocolate and the apple crumble. Each one came with a scoop of vanilla chip “ice cream,” but we substituted passion fruit sorbet for the ice cream, since we feared it would bear the hallmarks of pareve ice cream.Sure enough, the vanilla ice cream had that telltale pareve aftertaste, but the fruit sorbet was very good. Meanwhile, the nougaty middle sandwiched between thin layers of chocolate ganache and the crunchy cocoa base rendered the triple chocolate dessert rather mediocre.The apple crumble, on the other hand, was just about perfect: chunks of cinnamony stewed apple accented with nuggets of golden crumble, which tasted remarkably buttery for pareve pastry.Goshen.Kosher. Take-out available.Nahalat Binyamin St. 30, Tel Aviv.Sun-Thu: 12 noon-midnight; Fri: noon-3 p.m.; Sat: 7 p.m.-midnightPhone: 03-560-0766The writer was a guest of the restaurant.
