Restaurant: Shila

Location: Rehov Ben Yehuda 182, Tel Aviv 6347122, Israel. +972 3-522-1224

Date: July 3, 2019

Cuisine: Israeli

Rating: Great

The end of our trip brought us to bustling Tel Aviv.

Only about 100 years old, Tel Aviv is a radically different kind of city than Jerusalem.

For our first restaurant we went to Shila.

The restaurant was established ten years ago by Sharon cohen and his wife Adi. At the first years Sharon worked with 2 cooks and Adi with 1 waitress. Year after year, step by step the restaurant grows and expanded its size, staff and culinary vision. Today shila became a home for people that love to eat and have fun, Sharon Cohen, the chef, manages his kitchen with laughter and humor behind the Flame, Seasoned with grace and serves with love.

The interior is decidedly more modern than most of what we’ve seen in Israel up to this point. Space was crowded and buzzy too.



The menu.

Bread.

Tahini and spicy sauce.

Fisherman’s Caaprese. Mozzarella di Bufala, cherry tomatoes & Spanish anchovies.

Iron salad. Spinach, endive, walnuts, beetroot carpaccio & Feta cheese.

Yellowtail Sashimi. Sliced apricot, cherries, wakame seaweed & Labaneh stone.

Sea fish tartar. wrapped in avocado, served with almonds and a mint Aioli.

Tel-Aviv mix of fish on top of tzatziki & pita bread.

Green Tortellini. filled with a homemade Ricotta. Served with Crystal shrimp and crab meat.

Fish Fillet and Lobster Ravioli in a Swiss Chard Stew with a lemon butter sauce served with mussels, Tiger shrimp & calamari.

Seafood spaghettini. Shrimps, mussels & calamari in crab stock & pickled caper leaves.

The dessert menu.

Entremet. Dark & Milk Chocolate Mousse, Salted Caramel Cremeux, Sesame Crumble & Sesame Nougatine.

Caribbean Crème Brule. Crème Brule, Almonds Crumble, Coconut ice cream & tropical fruits.

Overall, Shila was great. It was young, hip, loud, crowded, and full of energy. Service was good. The food was more unusual and more contemporary than many places we visited up until this point. The presence of so much “seafood” (aka tref, shellfish) was a pleasant change too. It was definitely rich, but didn’t come off as heavy.

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