A Greek fest at Parakalo Restaurant Jaffa

Parakalo is a greek restaurant situated near the north Jaffa beach on the border of Tel Aviv. Parakalo serves Greek food and Ouzo in a Greek courtyard facing the Mediterranean to the sound of the Bouzouki. Three times a week there is a Greek fest here with a band and dancing! Yassou!

Parakalo in Greek means “you’re welcome”, and the inspiration to the restaurant owned by Heni and Neli Grebli came from Heni’s childhood when he visited his family in Greece. He tried to reproduce the experiences and tastes from his frequent visits in Athens. Parakalo has a spacious courtyard overlooking the sea. The restaurant stand out in the street with a blue graffiti façade and with the text “PARAKALO” on the northern wall of the building.

Greek Fest

Parakalo is where people come to eat Greek food, but this is only one reason to come here, people come here to celebrate, sing and dance to the sound of the Bouzouki. It is mostly cheerful here on summer nights. Three times a week there is a band here.

We came to Parakalo for the season opening party. I tried many of the dishes in the menu, mostly tapas. They serve here also fish and seafood, which I haven’t tasted. Most of the plates I took pictures of, are exactly as the restaurant serves them, except the main course that are bigger (served this way in events).

Cold Mezze

We had many cold mezzes, loved them all, there is a deal of a mezze tray including 5 cold mezzes (not including the fish) and bread for NIS79 – great to share! If you order it, don’t miss the Greek Garlic spread and the tzatziki, although you get some if you order the stuffed vine leaves!

Tzatziki With lots of dill, oregano & fresh garlic (NIS29) – appears in the above photo.

Potato salad With dill, red onion, mayonnaise & garlic  (NIS29)

Marinated eggplants Eggplants marinated with olive oil, lemon, herbs & garlic  (NIS29)

Garlic spread (NIS29) – goes great with the bread!

Beetroot and feta garlic spread (NIS29)

Hot peppers and feta cheese spread (NIS32) – moderately spicy!

Mixed greek olives and feta cheese (NIS25)

We got excellent bread with olives!

Salads

I think the Greek salad is a must – so fresh and with a twist of capers and the excellent Feta!

Lentil and beetroot salad Arugula leaves, black lentils, baked beets, herbs & sesame seeds (NIS39)

Greek salad Tomato, cucumber, red pepper, red onion, capers, Kalamata olives, fresh za’atar & feta cheese (NIS46). It is larger than it looks.

Hot Mezze

I think that there’s a lot of personal taste as we go to the warmer dishes, I personally loved the Moussaka (my favorite). The fried cheese was really nice with a blending taste of sweet and savory!

Stuffed grape leaves Served with tzatziki (NIS32)

Saganaki-greek fried cheese Served with fresh thyme leaves and touches of honey (NIS39)

Feta eggplant Eggplant baked with olive oil, herbs and crumbled feta cheese (NIS39)

Roasted cauliflower With cheese , olive oil and herbs (NIS39)

Fava Yellow pea spread, served with roasted hot peppers, olive oil & garlic (NIS39)

Moussaka at ‘Parakalo’ Baked stew of eggplants,potatoes,meat, cheese & beans

Main Courses

As I mentioned above, we were served a large plate with both Kebab Souvlaki and Chicken Gyros, which is not part of the menu, but the serving of each dish on a pita bread with sides of some very good crispy fries and tomato salad with soumak.

Kebab souvlaki 2 kebab skewers served on a flat pita bread with tomato & onion salad, & French fries (NIS64)

Chicken gyros Served on a flat pita bread with tomato & onion salad, & french fries (NIS67)

Desserts

We had two cakes, I especially loved the Cheese “Baklava” – don’t miss it!

Semolina cake Served with home cream (NIS42) we got it without the cream.

Cheese ‘Baklava’ at Parakalo  Phillo dough filled with sweet cheese and nuts mixture (NIS42).

At parakalo they have some fine wine and cocktails with Ouzo! The best drink for a warm summer evening!

Summary

An evening at Parakalo is an opportunity to have a Greek fest without going abroad! I recommend coming in a group on one of the evening when there is a band playing and share mezzes!

Information

Parakalo restaurant, 6 Nahum Goldman st. Tel Aviv, 03-6816918

Disclosure: I was a guest of the restaurant