A blintz at bedtime and other stories
F YOU like to slip into a holiday schedule of lie-ins and lazy mornings when you are away, then you probably like to extend the day at the other end, with late dinners and nights on the town. In Israel, there are lots of good options for late-night dining.
With its large chic premises and massive illuminated bar, Tel Aviv’s Uno delivers the sense of a night out -— and its routine opening until midnight and, after Shabbat until 1am, makes it an attractive place for late dinners.
But it is much more than just a funky location — its menu is one-of-a-kind. It does not restrict you to the normal course structure, but rather offers different categories of what it calls modern Italian cuisine — or in its Hebrew rendering Italian cuisine for “now”.
The evening menu starts with crudo — raw fish, or adapted for the Israeli palate, seared. The crudo dishes use premium ingredients — take for example the drum fish crudo, seared in olive oil and served with mushroom confit, cherry tomatoes, capers and truffle oil. And for this luxurious medley of tastes, the price is not crazy — around £10.
Imaginative bruschetta include the “New Buzz”, with cherry tomatoes, sweet pesto, mozzarella, bûcheron cheese, goat’s cheese, parmesan and lemon confît. Uno offers eight varieties of pizza and 10 pasta dishes, including a ravioli that packs an inconceivably large number of ingredients into its filling. Fungophiles should go for pappardella funghi, with a sauce of porcini mushrooms, portobello mushrooms, truffles and Paris mushrooms.
When you imagine tucking into a meal late at night, it is unlikely that blintzes will be your first thought. But Hungarian Blintzes, in Tel Aviv is open — and active — until 1am. If, like most of us, you eat a blintz on Shavuot and forget about them for the rest of the year, give the restaurant a try. Its blintz flavours go far beyond the clas- sic cheese — to potato, spinach, goulash and many others. Sweet fillings include poppy cream, almond cream, and vanilla cream.
Of course, you do not need to have blintzes for all three courses — although you could. There are soups, including onion soup with kashkaval cheese and croutons and mushroom soup with sweet cream. And there are ice creams — including a sundae doused in alcohol and set alight — for diners who want a non-blintz dessert.
Tel Aviv may be Israel’s 24-hour city, but there are plenty of late-night options in Jerusalem too. Where else can you go to a top bar chain that boasts regular live music, beer on tap and a famously cosmopolitan clientèle… as well as kosher supervision? Mike’s Place is probably Israel’s best-known chain of live music bars, and while most of its branches are not kosher, the Jerusalem branch is.
There are nights with big-name acts, open mic nights and “rock ’n’ sports” nights — and as the action only gets started at 10pm, it goes on into the early hours. Mike’s Place is traditionally enjoyed with a beer in the hand — and the menu complements the drinks — try tortilla chips and Mexican beef served with salsa, guacamole and nondairy sour cream, or onion rings ith garlic mayonnaise. There are steaks, burgers and bangers and mash, too, as well as Guinness stew, the Sloppy Joe sandwich (essentially a minced-meat sandwich) and the kosher equivalent of the BLT, the PLT (pastrami instead of bacon). The large Mexican section of the menu features burritos, tacos and fajitas, sure to keep you energised and dancing into the early hours.