 We welcome Croissant Alternative restaurant to eLuna and to our family of kosher restaurants in Israel. Originally a non-kosher restaurant, this restaurant is now under the hashgacha of Rabbanut Tel-Aviv/Yaffo. MEHADRIN!
Known for years as Croissant Coffee Shop, in its new kosher incarnation the restaurant is called Alternative - a pun on the word "native" which means path, in Hebrew. As the name suggests, this is a new path for this restaurant.
Croissant Alternative restaurant is located in the Beit Lessin building, just meters from Kikar Hamedina. This is smack-dab in the middle of one of the fancy Tel-Aviv business and shopping districts. The Beit Lessin theater has moved to another location. Most of the restaurant traffic is business, shoppers, and local old-timers who live in the neighborhood.
Shop till you drop on the elegant Kikar Hamedina circle. Afterward rest and revive at Alternative. Turn off the Kikar Hamedina circle on to Weitzman Street and you will see the restaurant just a few meters down the block. If you have come by car, there is pay parking behind the restaurant. Turn on Zichron Yaakov Street and then turn again on to a small alleyway behind the restaurant, and you’ll see a municipal parking lot.
 The restaurant offers a great selection of lovely dairy dishes and fish. You can enjoy either a full dairy meal, a fish dinner, a light snack, or just a cup of coffee and one of their amazing desserts.
My companion and I stopped in for a light meal at this restaurant when we were on an errand in Tel-Aviv. In the early evening the restaurant was nicely filled with local neighborhood people. This speaks well for the restaurant that apparently attracts return visitors. Though many of the locals sat on the outdoor patio, we chose to sit in the sizable well air-conditioned indoor area.
 The menu offered so many enticing items, it was hard to choose. My companion decided on a soup and a sandwich and I chose a vegetable quiche platter. We both ordered soft drinks, which were on our table within minutes. This was very welcome on the warm summer day.
The food started coming very shortly after our order was taken. My companion was served a very large bowl of tasty thick soup. It must have been bubbling away in the kitchen because it seemed ready to serve, hot and plentiful, without any delay.
My quiche platter consisted of a healthy wedge of quiche and a well-dressed lettuce salad. Both were quite tasty and not too heavy. The quiche, served with a dab of sour cream on the side, had a very nice homemade taste, with a light crust and plenty of vegetables. My companion’s sandwich was served with the same lettuce salad, which he also enjoyed.
We disappointed the waitress when we did not top off our meal with a dessert. The desserts, she told us, were the specialty of the restaurant, and she listed about a dozen different dessert options, each one sounding better than the next. We decided to save the rich dairy desserts for another visit to this restaurant, which I hope will be soon.
The bill for our soup, sandwich, quiche platter, and two soft drinks came to NIS 125. Desserts are approximately NIS 25 each.
Take 10% off when you present the eLuna.com discount coupon.
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