Sarona Tasting Room - food review

Wine is usually chosen to complement the food at most eating places, but at the Sarona Tasting Room, the chef, Uriel Kimchi, was charged with creating food that would accompany the wine offered up for sampling.

You can use a special magnetic card to pour yourself a taste, a half-cup or a full cup from the automatic dispenser situated at one end of the restaurant/wine bar which opened recently in the historic Sarona complex. Both Israeli wines and wines from abroad are available (NIS 20/25 per glass for a taste, NIS 25/35 for a cup).

Facing the prospect of tasting the 30 wines on display was so daunting that I ordered a gin and tonic from the well-stocked bar while waiting for my dining companion to park the car.

Not knowing there is a parking lot right next door to the restaurant, he spent half an hour doing the Tel Aviv scenic tour until he found a place to leave the car. Important note for future outings to Tel Aviv: always find out from the restaurant about the parking situation.

Having grown up on the mantra that one should never drink on an empty stomach, I ordered some of the snacks listed on the rather truncated dairy menu.

The first dish to arrive, coinciding with the arrival of my greatly relieved husband, was a slice of toasted brioche topped with melted cheese together with a sauce of honey, thyme and garlic (NIS 38). It was good, but its main function was to increase the appetite for more food.

Next to arrive was carpaccio selek, thinly sliced beetroot served with crumbly feta cheese (NIS 46), quickly followed by sashimi, slivers of drum fish with fresh cream and tomato sauce (NIS 54).

All these snacks were all well and good, but we both felt the need for something more substantial. Apart from a cheese platter, the only real option for a meal with trimmings is the saumon en papillote, a fillet of fresh salmon steamed in a brown paper bag. Yes, it does sound much better in French.

This dish made the whole experience a worthwhile endeavor. Baking the enclosed salmon meant that all the flavor stayed in the dish. Cooked with the fish were fresh asparagus, peas and broccoli, with some caramelized shallot enriching the dish (NIS 72).

Although we didn’t feel the need for any more alcohol with our meal, having used our magnetic card for several tastes, it is also possible to order from over 200 wines kept in the restaurant’s cellars. There is also rumored to be a sommelier on duty, although on the night we visited we had to make do with a waiter who had ambitions to study medicine and was waiting for the results of his application to university.

Having eaten and drunk our fill, we left the Tasting Room, very impressed with all it has to offer, to return to our mundane but contented existence.