A taste of South America in Tel Aviv
Review: Totuma serves authentic, appetizing food from Latin American - primarily Colombia, Venezuela and Peru - at affordable prices.
With all the restaurants in Tel Aviv, there are relatively few representing the cuisines of Latin America. Take away the handful of Mexican restaurants, and there are hardly any picking up the slack for the entire continent of South America. Considering how many Israelis travel to the southern Western Hemisphere for their after-army trips, this is a market that is woefully underserved. Fortunately, Totuma Arepa Bar opened just a few months ago to meet this need.
Totuma is the brainchild and domain of Dalia Alhadef, who was a finalist on television’s Master Chef in 2012. She had Immigrated to Israel from Venezuela, where the arepa is ubiquitous, much like pita bread here in Israel. And it functions very similarly, meant to be stuffed and eaten like a sandwich. In the restaurant’s own words, it serves “fine street food.”
The vibe in Totuma is what you might expect in a neighborhood eatery: Basic but inviting, with a pleasant enclosed outdoor seating section surrounded by green plants. And clearly it has already been discovered: Even on an ordinary weeknight, the place filled up with customers, drawn by the good food and reasonable prices.
It is also the kind of place meant for quaffing a cold beer or sipping a tropical cocktail. There is a decent selection of chilled beers from Mexico and Argentina, as well as the familiar domestic brands. But the house cocktails looked just too tempting, and the waitress - who spoke excellent English - recommended the Pura Vida: A frozen rum concoction made with pineapple, banana, coconut, ginger and lime; it was not only refreshing and delicious, but since it melted quite slowly, it lasted through most of the meal.
Another rum-based drink (like the majority of the cocktails here), is the Caribbean Ginger Beer: Rum with Totuma’s homemade ginger honey, lime and ginger beer, garnished with a slice of ginger. It was a pleasantly potent drink, perfect for fans of ginger.
The bilingual menu features dishes primarily from the northern countries of South America: Colombia, Venezuela and Peru. The appetizers are grouped under the heading Para Picar y Compartir, translated “for nosh and share.”
Unfortunately, our first choice - in fact, one of the most common dishes in South America - was not available, since plantains were not in season. The good news is that this means Totuma prepares all its food from scratch using fresh ingredients.
We started with a cachapa - a sweet corn pancake - filled with pabellón, Venezuelan shredded beef. The beef was nicely seasoned, and the combination extremely tasty.
We ate the cachapa together with one of the two salads on the menu, by the slightly confusing name Tropical Salad, since the ingredients - lettuce, artichoke hearts, cherry tomatoes - hardly evoke the tropics. The best thing about the salad was the dressing, identified as Totuma’s special mayo - a zesty condiment that could prove addictively versatile.
Naturally, we had to try one of the arepas, so the manager brought us the asado negro, literally “black roast.” The succulent beef slow-cooked in cane sugar was indeed very dark in color, and the resulting flavor nectarous without being cloying. Also in the arepa was guasacaca, a Venezuelan avocado-based relish; tomato; and white salty cheese - all the ingredients together making for a nice interplay of flavors.
Venezuela’s neighbor to the west is the home of our next dish, La Colombiana: Ground beef containing hints of spicy chorizo and topped with a fried egg. The generous portion of meat came with the classic Latin American sides of white rice and black beans, creating a hearty and satisfying dish.
The next stop on the map - and the menu - was Peru, and a dish called Pollo Peruano, or Peruvian chicken. Peruvian flame-grilled chicken is famous for its finger-licking goodness, and that is what I was expecting. In actual fact, in Peru the dish we were served goes by the name pollo saltado, signifying a very popular combination of sauteed onions, tomatoes and peppers with either chicken, beef or fish. In any event, we were not disappointed by the switch: the chicken and vegetables in a tangy soy-vinegar sauce was a savory masterpiece.
Finally, as if the four desserts on the menu didn’t present us with enough difficult choices, the manager insisted we try one that was not yet written down: chocolate taquitos, which became popular since Totuma introduced them on Valentine's Day. It was easy to see why these crunchy chocolate-filled sticks served with dips of rich fudge and caramel, like a cross between pastries and candy bars, have won a permanent spot on the menu.
The Venezuelan dessert was quesillo, a custardy flan swimming in a caramel sauce. Both this and the signature dessert La “R” - dark chocolate mousse, sweet cream, cookie crumbles and spiced caramel - were sinfully decadent.
Totuma may have the look, feel and prices of a simple neighborhood eatery, but the quality of the food ranks up there with the likes of its fancier Dizengoff neighbors.
Totuma Arepa Bar
Not kosher
Dizengoff Street 265, Tel Aviv
Tel. (03) 516-8693
