As much as we don’t want to acknowledge Instagram as the right of way, it’s become a deeply integral part of our society – and there is no denying that it has become a huge place where food dreams are born.
This is definitely the case with Raz Rahav known as Razi Barvazi (razi_barvazi), whose Instagram account has always been jam-packed with images of creative food that seem almost too good to be true. It is these incredible and inspiring pictures which have flung him into leading one of the most talked about restaurants in the city, OCD.
Picture the scene: a 20-something-year-old chef, serving up a nine-course meal, each course more creative than the next, immersing diners deep into molecular gastronomy with a mix of colors and flavors that dazzle the senses. Skeptics wondered, “Can someone so young really run such an off-the-wall restaurant?”
© Haim Yosef
Despite these nonbelievers, OCD has exceeded expectations and gone on to claim its spot on all the city’s best restaurant lists. Now, after becoming the most talked about restaurant in the last couple of years by proving that fancy food does have a place in Tel Aviv's culinary scene, Razi Barvazi decided to disrupt it all with a sandwich shop.
Located on Tchernichovsky, not far from the beach, the Barvazi Urban Sandwich shop serves up creative sandwiches with lots of sauces and, in the Razi Barvazi fashion, close attention to detail, plus the same twists that made him locally famous in the first place.
© Haim Yosef
The selections are what carb dreams are made of: grab the chunky mac and cheese sandwich with smoked cheese and fried jalapenos or a focaccia with smoked kohlrabi and seaweed cucumber salad with soy and lemon aioli. Check out the sourdough sandwich with roast beef, roasted pepper cream, and avocado, or go wild with a decked out classic peanut butter and jelly with a twist: chunks of strawberries and black pepper. In the morning, they have breakfast sandwiches like croissants filled with aioli and brown eggs, or egg salad with bacon and pickled lime. Whether you grab-and-go or chill with a toast, relish in this hotspot that is bound to become the best thing since sliced croissants.
Barvazi Urban Sandwich, 17 Tchernichovsky, Sun-Sat 07:30-17:00