June 2011
The well known Gidi Cafe/Restaurant in Ramat Gan now has a branch restaurant on Frishman St, in Tel Aviv. We welcome this delightful cafe and we are pleased to introduce our eLuna members to this great find. We drove more than half an hour in Tel Aviv traffic to this coffee shop, at the insistence of one of the owners, promising a unique Tel Aviv experience. And we were not disappointed.
Gidi Cafe is on Frishman, about half way between Dizengoff and Ben Yehuda Streets. There is little street parking on the block, but there is an underground pay parking lot at 28 Frishman, a few meters before the restaurant.
Gidi Cafe has an outdoor street-side deck, a requisite for a Tel Aviv cafe. There is a very pleasant, well air conditioned indoor dining area, and then there are two surprises - a lovely back yard with tables and chairs and a decorative garden pool, and a private VIP meeting room. The VIP room can accommodate up to 25 people. It has a separate entrance and is used for private meetings including sheurim (Monday evenings). It is unique to find all of this on a single property in the heart of Tel Aviv. Note that smoking is permitted in the outdoor areas of the restaurant but not indoors.
The restaurant interior is decorated in an eclectic collection of European and second hand furniture. The art work and the menus are in the style of "Little Tel Aviv." A lot of thought has gone into this design. It is the little touches - the unique design of the numbers on each table, the wooden tables and the take away menu is designed to look like an old fashioned first grade reader: sepia colored, old fashioned type style and art work.
Gidi Cafe has an enticing menu of salads, sandwiches, pasta dishes, and baked foods such as quiches and casseroles. The specialty items, we were advised, are the Gidi Salad and the "Denisuella" baked dish. Those two items, plus an amazing dessert, became our meal.
"We'll share" I promised my companion. But when I dug into the salad I regretted that promise. Not just any salad, the Gidi salad contains a rich selection of fresh crunchy vegetables, nuts, a heap of shredded cheese all topped with crispy strips made in house. About a quarter of the way through I poured the salad dressing - which was really not necessary - over the remaining salad. If it could have gotten tastier, it just did. I would have polished the salad off single handedly, but the look in my companion's eye reminded me to leave him his share.
In the meantime my companion had filled a small plate with a tasting from his meal. "Denisuella" is a full meal on a plate. This baked fish dish is made with denis fish, goat cheese, spinach, onions, bread crumbs, Parmesan, and olive oil, and is served with tomato salad and potatoes. The dish is attractively presented, with the casserole baked in a separate dish served on a platter with the potatoes and the tomatoes. My companion was very impressed and quite satisfied with this dish.
We could not tell, from the orders of the other diners at the restaurant, whether there was a single favorite item at this restaurant. We saw many plates of quiche, several sandwiches, and other people ordering the dishes that we were enjoying. One customer came in to find out how the restaurant prepared the ice coffee. She had never found this good an ice coffee in Tel Aviv. Looks like they are doing something right.
"The Kadaif," we were advised, "is the dessert of choice."
"Neh, we don't need a dessert," we protested.
"This, you have to try. It is one of our specialties."
Well, in that case.....
Kadaif is a baked dish of riccota cheese with roasted nuts. Rich and sweet, this is certainly one of the best desserts that I have ever had. I never thought that the ultimate dessert would not be chocolate based. But there it was, sweet, cheesy, a mix of cheesecake and blintze, this is the ultimate dessert. They tell us that there are customers who come to the restaurant just for the Kadaif. No surprise. If we lived any closer to this restaurant dieting would be a whole lot harder.
Visit Gidi Cafe. Worth the trip from wherever you are.
Deisuella: NIS 68. Gidi Salad: NIS 49. Kadaif: NIS 36.
Menu items can be prepared for take away.
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