Sweet Jaffa/ Tel Aviv lunch

Did you imagine for a moment that I would not expand upon my post “Sweet Saturday in Tel Aviv”, by detailing where we went for lunch, no, no, by now you must know me better….
I simply c ould not refrain from telling you about the unexpectedly delightful lunch in Old Jaffa city.

Wandering around like a couple of ostriches with necks stretched to the full, the man and I were giving the Jaffa Tourist area the once / twice over, when we spotted the Kalamata restaurant set in an old stone structure. Knowing that the views of the Mediterranean sea and the shore line are splendid from the upstairs (inside) restaurant we hoped to grab a table for two but alas it was lunch time and the small interior was completely full. We settled for seating on the square itself under large white canopies and attractive flora, shaded sufficiently from the sun but within excellent sight of the surrounding happenings and ancient architecture including a (twist your head view) of St Michael Church. Greek music was playing in the background and the atmosphere was happily chilled, (even between us)
To be quite honest, we were not expecting too much from the menu so it was pleasantly surprising when we read that they offered some intriguing and imaginative dishes – of which, as normal we ordered quite a few….A plate of tiny crispy barbounia hit the table with a chilli dipping sauce. The fish were delightfully crunchy and white flesh fluffy and fresh. A green leaved salad with saffron pear and fried soft goats cheese was a mix of flavors that was very pleasurable and succulent calamari

with gently simmered butter beans was a reminder of long ago of a small Mediterranean island. All the dishes were served on paper copies Greek newspapers which was a cute touch. To round off the experience our dishes were accompanied by lovely crusty kalamata olive bread, fat juicy black and green olives and a dip of creamed aubergine. Since hubbie and I were wishing to continue our jolly mood we could hardly resist the exotic named cocktails, so slurped (through a straw) our way through a ‘Jaffa Breeze ‘ and ‘Jean George’ but still managed to walk towards home in a fairly straight line along the Tel Aviv promenade!

Kalamata Jaffa Lunch3.pg