Shallot – Elegant Kosher ‘Mehadrin’ Restaurant in Tel aviv

Shallot Restaurant at “Ramat Hachayal” in Tel Aviv is a fashionable elegant Kosher (Mehadrin) restaurant featuring Eastern European and Mediterranean cuisine in traditional up to date style.

Salmon Carpaccio - Sahllot Restaurant

The famous Chef Moshe Amayev from Russia makes varied dishes from different cuisines: Russian, Balkans, Caucasian, and Middle eastern. The result is rich tastes and flavors.

The moment we entered the restaurant, we felt the calm luxurious atmosphere. The restaurant was designed by Sandra Haliva, an internal designer known for its classic-elegant décor. The restaurant has heavy European style with soft lined seats, gold touch, and decorated walls. The service is accordingly – the waiters are well-trained with all the professional nuance of quality service. Celebrities that have attended include Zubin Mehta, Nathan Sharanski, minister Avigdor Lieberman and famous rabbis.

Starters

The starters at Shallot are various, there are plenty of vegetables, fish, and beef plates. The presentation of all of them is very appealing, rich with fresh ingredients.

Eggplant

An eggplant cooked on the charcoal grill, served with black and green Tahini. Served with plenty of vegetables. A Balkan-middle eastern plate that is always a must-have for me.

Sote

Cold vegetable salad including a number of stewed vegetables in the Caucasian style – eggplant, tomatoes, garlic, chili pepper. This is another Balkan dish that is very popular here in Israel.

Lobio

Red stewed beans with tomatoes and greens. Very rich, slightly spicy plate, served nicely in a small pot.

Homemade salad in Georgian style

Tomatoes, cucumbers and red onions coarsely cut in walnuts pesto, garlic and chili. Not spicy at all and the walnut pesto dressing fits nicely with the vegetables. We liked it very much!

Salmon Carpaccio with shallot and vinaigrette and Dorado Carpaccio with shallot, Asian sauce and wasabi. Two lovely plates that look impressive!!! The fish in both is very thinly sliced and the marinades are gentle. Stunning!

Homemade bread

Flat Focaccia crispy from the outside and soft from the inside, served with three sauces. We couldn’t stop eating it!

Savory Pastry

Shallot offers a number of savory pastry that is handmade and without yeast.

Chudu

Chudu is a savory pastry that is oven-baked. There are two types of Chudu in the menu: Chudu with meat, greens and chili (spicy) and vegetables Chudu with egg and green onion, that looks beautiful while eaten! It was eaten to the last crumbs, was excellent!

Kurse

Homemade dumplings in Caucasian style. They reminded me of my grandmother’s “Kreplach”.  It can also be ordered in broth.

Homemade Belyashik

Large fried homemade dumplings filled with meat. From all the pastries, this one is the only fried one, and it is so crunchy and tasty! We practically devoured it in seconds! The meat is not spicy and all the family enjoyed it.

Main Courses

The menu includes Eastern European courses like Pozharsky cutlets, Georgian Stew and fish, we tried some of the plates from the grill and the Pozharsky cutlets

Cutlets ‘Pozharsky’

A type of Kibeh filled with chicken and greens, coated with breadcrumbs and fried, served with mashed potatoes. The cutlets are crunchy outside and soft and juicy inside – so yummy!

Chicken pullet steak

Grilled chicken ‘steak’ in special marinade (a little spicy-sweet as I could feel the sweet Chili sauce) served with mini potatoes, shallot, and mushrooms. Very soft chicken melts in the mouth!

Beef Fillet

Grilled beef fillet made to order, served in special red wine sauce with berries and caramelized shallot. The sweet-sourness of the berries and sauce is very pleasant and the meat was exactly as it should be!

The meat here is of the highest kosher level, which sometimes makes it a challenge, says Moshe, the chef, as the choice is small and he has to make sure that whatever he gets is well cooked to taste. After tasting the food he makes, I can testify that he succeeds and the meat is soft and tasty, just like the rest of the food here!

Desserts and drinks

After such a big meal we think twice if to have dessert; add to it that desserts in a kosher meat restaurant are a challenge. We decided to try the specialty – Kiev cake. The choice was perfect! Wonderful layers of meringue, walnuts and sweet cream. Very sweet but also very tasty!

Kiev Tart

The drinks and alcohol menu is very large here with a good selection of the finest kosher Israeli wineries: Dalton, Ramat Hagolan, Yiron, Vitkin, Recanati, Catel, and other imported wines. There are full bottles or small bottles (for two). Before they open the wine, they will check if you prefer that the Kashrut supervisor will open it for you.

The restaurant is Kosher Mehadrin (“Mehadrin me Mehadrin”) with the supervision of the Tel Aviv Rabbanut. The meat here is of Rabbi Machpud and Badaz Beit Yosef.

In summary, the Shallot restaurant will take you on a short trip to Europe far away from the hustle and bustle of the Israeli street into a calm elegant ambience where you can enjoy Eastern European to Israeli Mediterranean food rich with styles and flavors.  It is a restaurant that is well suited for events or celebrations. The high Kosher certificate is an advantage, but the good food is the main reason to come here!

Information
Shallot, 3 Habarzel, Tel Aviv, 03-7324411, Kosher Mehadrin
Disclosure: I was a guest of the restaurant