From Tel Aviv With Love

During winters like this one, with the drizzle in your face and the puddles under your feet, all you really want is to feel welcome somewhere. Tel Aviv-themed restaurant Adelle may well be that home you’ve been looking for

Stepping through the restaurant’s doors is like stepping into the warmth, love, and simplicity of a Tel Aviv home, with Adelle – the mother who’ll get you warm, feed you, and make sure you leave with a smile on your face. The decor is cosy, with plants everywhere, and the atmosphere is lively like a city street. From the ground floor you can look into the kitchen or out the window, while the first floor is more spacious. 

Just Like Home 

The handwritten menu is bright, with cute drawings, and the food almost teleports to your table. The cauliflower with cream sauce wakes up my taste receptors – it’s delicate and optimally-seasoned. I feel like my mum would be proud of me eating so healthily with such pleasure and appetite. But I’m just getting started!

Even though the cappuccino seems a bit bubbly, I appreciate its gentle taste. Next comes the tasty pita, filled with meat and veggies. Be warned – it’s a messy dish to eat. That said, it’s pure shameless enjoyment: the taste is so rich and varied that you may get a bit emotional. I can’t say for sure what makes this food taste so special: maybe it’s the seasoning, or maybe it’s love. One thing I am sure of: the portions are big enough to feel as if you’re visiting your grandma who’s actually there in the kitchen.

The sea buckthorn tea will get your blood pumping – it’s flu season, y’all, and we need those vitamins. The perfect accompaniment to our hot drinks comes in the form of pistachio cake with ice cream. It’s a chilled ending to the meal: not too sweet, not too plain, just right.

Just Like Mum

I’m grateful for the good service from the happy waiters: they’re passionate, knowledgeable, and really fun to talk to. There’s always water available on the table, which is a huge plus. The toilets (gender-neutral) are in the basement, where you can enjoy the fancy interplay of mirrors and walls. Everything is clean and fresh, which comes as no surprise after everything we’ve seen upstairs.

WO Edible Inventory
Cappuccino with soymilk 89 UAH
Cauliflower (half bunch) with tahini and sumac 169 UAH
Classic turkey pita 195 UAH
Sea buckthorn tea 65 UAH
Pistachio cake with ice cream 145 UAH
Total: 663 UAH

Make sure you try:
Fire-roasted eggplant 182 UAH
Seabass shawarma 325 UAH
Creamy pumpkin soup with curry 125 UAH

Just Like Goodbye Kisses

After spending time at Adelle, it feels wrong to leave. The food is so healthy and tasty, the staff so genuine, and the atmosphere so on-point: leaving here is like getting out of a warm bed on a cold winter’s morning, or leaving your parents’ home. This must be how it feels to leave Tel Aviv. 

But Adelle is like that mother who will wait for you and welcome you, no matter how long it’s been since she last saw you. And if that doesn’t melt your heart, I don’t know what will.