Channels

Photo: PR
Sui Sushi
Photo: PR
Buzzy Gordon

Four frugal Asian feasts

Review: Four restaurants boasting extensive menus that offer attractive weekly or daily deals on delicious Asian food.

Asian cuisine is one of the fastest-growing niches in Israel’s culinary scene, with eateries serving everything from street food to gourmet repasts, and representing every conceivable price range.

 

 

What follows is a list of four restaurants boasting extensive menus that offer attractive weekly or daily deals on delicious food. No attempt has been made to rank the restaurants; rather, they are listed in alphabetical order. All have English menus; unfortunately, none are certified kosher.

 

Asia

Ambiance: A casual bar cum restaurant that occupies the middle and both sides of a pedestrian street in the heart of Jaffa’s flea market.

 

Beverages: Full bar with specialty cocktails and virgin cocktails, imported and domestic beers (including Israeli craft beers), wine and soft drinks. A pot of green or jasmine tea is included in the meal, as well as shots (chasers) of unfiltered sake.

 

 (Photo: Buzzy Gordon)
(Photo: Buzzy Gordon)

 

Deal Hours: Every evening except Friday, 7pm-8:30pm.

 

Menu: The special six-course, fixed-price dinner menu is called Pacific Time (if the wait staff does not bring it along with the regular menu, request it). The courses—soup, starter, and three subsequent dishes—are meant to be shared by two people.

 

 (Photo: Buzzy Gordon)
(Photo: Buzzy Gordon)

 

The restaurant specializes in cuisine from “the golden triangle”: Vietnam, Thailand and south China. There is a reasonable selection of vegetarian/vegan dishes. There are three Asian desserts not included in the special menu.

 

 (Photo: Buzzy Gordon)
(Photo: Buzzy Gordon)

 

Recommended: Chicken and crab broth with crab and shrimp wonton; leek and chive bao; night in Ho Chi Minh salad (calamari, root vegetables, peanuts); red seafood curry over rice noodles; red flam mushrooms and cabbage (shimeji mushrooms and greens in oyster sauce).

 

 (Photo: Buzzy Gordon)
(Photo: Buzzy Gordon)

 

Price: The two sharing menus are either NIS 120 or NIS 148 per person. When ordering from the more expensive menu, you can choose from either list of courses. Cocktails during Pacific Time are reduced by more than 50 percent, to NIS 22.

 

Asia. Rabbi Nahman 3, Jaffa. Tel. (050) 542-7775

 

Sui Sushi 

Ambiance: The newest branch of the Sui Sushi chain of Asian restaurants, in the London Ministore complex, has been designed in the minimalist style of a sushi bar in Japan, with light wood furnishings and a bar fronting the area where the sushi chef works. There is both indoor and al fresco seating.

 

Beverages: Imported (particularly from Japan) and domestic beers, sake, wine and soft drinks.

 

 (Photo: PR)
(Photo: PR)
 

Deal Hours: Business lunches, Sunday-Thursday, 12pm-4pm; Friday, 12pm-2pm.

 

Menu: There are three categories on the page of Entrées (starters)—Cold (salads, veggies and a spring roll), Hot (tempura, gyoza and crispy egg rolls) and Soups—and several pages of Specials comprising multiple sections: Vegetarian, Noodles, Rice, Fish (which contains one chicken dish), Seafood, Sushi, Sushi Combinations, Sashimi and Nigiri. Many of the dishes listed under Fish and Seafood come in the form of sushi rolls. While the menu contains predominantly Japanese dishes, there are Thai and Chinese dishes as well. There is a separate dessert menu, with three Western desserts.

 

 (Photo: PR)
(Photo: PR)
 

 

Recommended: Tempura, if you like extra—and crispy—coating; gyoza, if you like your Japanese dumplings steamed rather than fried; and the tom yum soup, which comes with noodles.

 

Price: Sushi business lunches—starter or soup, sushi and a soft drink—NIS 39 to NIS 59; specials business lunches—starter/soup, main course (noodles, rice or gyoza) and a soft drink—NIS 40 to NIS 48. Additions to business lunches, such as tempura, are available at reduced prices (The tom yum soup is not on the business lunch menu, but it is reasonably priced at all times).

 

Sui Sushi. Shaul Hamelekh 4, Tel Aviv. Tel. (03) 741-7111.

 

Taya  

Ambiance: A modern, attractive setting in a suburban shopping center, with indoor and al fresco seating. There is lots of free parking.

 

Beverages: Full bar with specialty cocktails, imported and domestic beers (including Israeli craft beers), wine, sake, and soft drinks. There are is a warm cocktail list in the winter.

 

 (Photo: Buzzy Gordon)
(Photo: Buzzy Gordon)

Deal Hours: There are three special deals, at three different times.

 

Discounted business lunches are served Sunday to Thursday, 12pm-5pm.

 (Photo: Roni Nehmad)
(Photo: Roni Nehmad)
 

1+1 (buy one, get one free) on all noodle dishes (including noodles in soup), Sundays from 5pm.

 

Ladies’ night: 2+1 (buy two, get one free) on alcohol and sushi ordered by women, Wednesdays from 5pm.

 

 (Photo: Roni Nehmad)
(Photo: Roni Nehmad)

 

Menu: The trilingual pan-Asian and sushi menu is electronic, on iPads. The food categories are Starters (cold salads and warm dishes), Sushi rolls (cold and hot), Rice plus, Nudles (sic), Specials and Desserts (seven Western sweets). There is also a kids’ menu, a vegan menu, and gluten free options.

 

Recommended: Calamari Bong; Zoe green papaya salad; Indonesian lo mein; Coconut Dragon noodles in coconut milk soup; warm spicy salmon roll. For dessert, the Nut Bar.

 

 (Photo: Buzzy Gordon)
(Photo: Buzzy Gordon)

 

Prices: 15 percent off the entire menu during business lunch hours. The 1+1 and 2+1 deals are available only to members of the restaurant’s loyalty club; it is free to join, online or in person (the restaurant prefers you register 24 hours in advance).

 

Taya. HaOfe St 1, Kadima Tzoran. Tel. (09) 772-8878.

 

The Thai on Har Sinai  

Ambiance: Bare bones furnishings indoors and outside in the courtyard of Tel Aviv’s Great Synagogue shared with other popular restaurants.

 

Beverages: Full bar with specialty cocktails, imported and domestic beers, wine and soft drinks

 

 (Photo: Liron Harel)
(Photo: Liron Harel)
 

Deal Hours: Business lunches (and other discounts), Sunday to Thursday, 12pm-3pm

 

Menu: There are three business lunch menus featuring lots of choices from a menu that comprises six categories: salads, soup, grill, curry, wok and noodles. Dishes are labeled as to level of spiciness, but the restaurant is very accommodating about adjusting the heat. There are vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options.

 

 (Photo: Liron Harel)
(Photo: Liron Harel)

 

Recommended: Som Tam (green papaya salad); chicken satay with peanut sauce; Tom Khaa Talay (coconut milk soup); Gai Phad Med (chicken and cashew nuts with rice).

 

Price: NIS 59 and NIS 69 for two-course lunches, NIS 79 for a three-course lunch. Four specialty cocktails and selected dishes are discounted.

 

The Thai on Har Sinai. Simtat Har Sinai 1, Tel Aviv. Tel. (054) 201-7132

 


פרסום ראשון: 02.12.18, 10:59
 new comment
Warning:
This will delete your current comment