As someone who religiously follows “Beygale” {a club for those who love food and everything related to it} in every platform possible – Facebook, the group’s club, Instagram and their website – I came across the restaurant “Pastel” located in the Tel Aviv museum, next to the beautiful sculpture garden.

There was a period when “Beygale” had the nerve to keep uploading appetizing pictures from this restaurant and I just couldn’t stop drooling over them. I already knew the names of all the dishes they serve by heart and how they are served – and I haven’t even been to the restaurant once!

One day, I was skimming through Facebook as usual and clicked on one of “Beygale”’s posts with the list of winners who have accumulated points in their application and managed to enter one of the club's amazing raffles.

I just wanted to see the prizes they were offering that month, and I couldn’t believe it – my name was listed among the winners! Me! I never won any raffle I ever signed up for, and I didn’t even sign up for the one on “Beygale” – it was enough to be a member and you had a chance to win automatically.

I won 100 shekels to use at “Pastel”! I can’t describe how excited I was when I saw that – at that second I didn’t even care what I got, the fact that I won something made me get up and jump on the couch at home, while my boyfriend gave me weird look and was slightly embarrassed .

That’s actually when my little love story with “Pastel” started. The first time Daniel and I went there for dinner to enjoy my raffle prize led to a strong desire to return to the place and examine their business lunch menu {soon you’ll find out how much we love these meals 😉 }.

After a quick look at the restaurant’s menu online, I discovered that their business lunch menu offered a large variety of dishes and it was prices reasonably – for the price of the main dish you also get an appetizer and a drink.

So we took advantage of the fact that we had to be in the Tel Aviv area for my cousin’s Bar Mitzvah and arranged to go to “Pastel” for lunch with another couple that Thursday.
We sat on the restaurant’s beautiful balcony and a few seconds later we decided which dishes we wanted to order.

I ordered the endive and lettuce salad with a classic vinaigrette dressing and parmesan cheese on top as my appetizer – it was relatively banal, but it was very refreshing and gave me an appetite for the dishes that were on their way to us ☺

Daniel ordered a cold beet soup that came with pieces of cooked beets, sweet melon, blue cheese and caramelized hazelnuts. What can I tell you… it was a special dish! I don’t usually like cooked beets, but the combination of flavors in this dish was absolutely perfect and I must admit I couldn’t stop stealing bites from his dish.

If you eat at “Pastel” you must order this dish – thank me later.

endive and lettuce salad

For my main course, I accidentally ordered the same dish I ordered the first time we were there – Beef ragú Pappardelle {92 shekels} – That's what happens when you have the memory of a fish…, but don’t get me wrong – I was very pleased! It’s a very generous dish and made immaculately so I really didn’t mind eating it again…

I’ve had dishes like this a number of times in different restaurants, and I think it's a pretty safe dish that consists of more or less the same ingredients everywhere.

At “Pastel” the dish consisted of pasta pappardelle {you could taste it was “homemade” there}, delicate pieces of lamb with sauce based on white wine, accompanied by peas, spinach, mint, a touch of red chili finely sliced and great bread crumbs that added a lot to the texture. I couldn’t resist this wonderful combination of ingredients and kept taking “just one more bite” until my plate was empty, even though I was totally full after eating half a plate.

Daniel ordered lamb wrapped in grilled grapevine leaves {82 shekels}, that’s served on a bed of tahini, hummus, cubes of fried eggplant and decorated with herbs and sumac. The dish was very tasty and consisted of high quality meat. I especially enjoyed the grilled grape leaves’ crunchiness.

Our friends ordered fish kebabs {82 shekels} – Seared along with a roasted vegetable salad {made on the grill}, and chicken “supreme” {78 shekels} – grilled chicken breast accompanied by a warm potato salad, herbs, onion and garlic.

Not only were both of their dishes a beautiful sight, they were equally delicious, if not more so – the sea fish kebabs were probably the best I’ve tasted … the taste was very, very subtle and didn’t take over all the other flavors in the dish, and everything around the three kebabs fit in perfectly, not just aesthetically.
It was amazing to see how a supposedly simple chicken breast dish, could be served with a twist – making it an interesting dish and a real work of art. The chicken itself was very juicy and full of flavors that the chef carefully match with it.

After the main courses we were completely full from the huge portions we got, but it really didn’t stop us from ordering two equally amazing desserts.

The first one was an ice cream sundae {38 shekels} which is kind of a childhood dream. It had everything in it – excellent creamy ice cream with vanilla sauce and berry sauce that was a perfect balance of sweet and sour, and of course fresh berries and caramelized popcorn to top off this sweet and fabulous dish. As an ice cream addict I can say that this dish was perfect!
The second dessert was one that starred on the restaurant’s Instagram account {you should follow them!} and it was recommended by everyone who ate there – pistachio ice cream {48 shekels}. Now listen up, I never had pistachio ice cream that tasted so much like pistachio… and the combination of it with the crunchy chocolate that surrounded it was just wow! Trust me – just order this dish!

We left the restaurant with the feeling that the restaurant likes to indulge in high quality raw materials and in large portions, so there was no way a customer could leave unsatisfied. I have no doubt that every other dish that we could have ordered from the menu would have been equally as good.

Hedonism Index: {1- asceticism….. 7- pure hedonism}

• Ambiance – 6
• VFM {Value For Money} – 6
• Variety of dishes – 5
• Service – 6
• Taste – 7

So… if you still haven’t been to “Pastel”, reserve a seat.

And if you’ve been there, what would you recommend I order next time?