Sharon Ben-David

Reviva and Celia have become a much-loved and esteemed culinary institution these past years. Today they are proudly fulfilling yet another dream as they open their prestigious Paris-inspired restaurant, ensuring an exceptional gastronomic experience. Meet: “Reviva - Second Floor” A heavy wooden door stands at the end of a corridor on the second floor of the Tel Aviv G Mall. Circular metal letters simply spell out: Reviva. When the door opens, an elegant Scandinavian-inspired space is revealed, with clean lines of concrete and wood. On the terrace that closes for winter, there’s a long wooden table, two bars, a tabun & a smoker, a corner with soft sofas for coffee and green vegetation. Welcome to Reviva and Celia's new spot - 'Reviva - second floor', a prestigious restaurant in the image and honor of the late pastry chef Reviva Appel. Everyone who knew Reviva knew about her great love for Paris. She traveled extensively to the City of Lights, accompanied by her staff and family, to taste, experiment, regenerate and expand her horizons. The food she created, especially in the confectionery department, was French in its soul and quality, and uncompromising but accessible and relaxed. Reviva - second floor © Anatoly Michaello Small and intimate At 'Reviva - second floor' this philosophy of living extends to the realms of hospitality. Every detail is carefully examined. The furniture was chosen in collaboration with Tollman's alongside elegant French serving utensils, a butter

Fitting right in between Purim and International Women's Month, a dozen manufacturers of sweet things have collaborated together to organize a delicious and colorful festival of handmade delicacies at the Tel Aviv Port - from syrupy marmalade to Japanese mochi and beyond Michal Rubin © Anatoly Michaello A search for producers of traditional sweets in Israel turns up 12 names, all of women from throughout the country. Together they're staging a unique festival at the Tel Aviv Port Market March 13 and 14, including candied fruit dipped in chocolate, nougats, fondant and fudge, colorful marmalade, and much more. A cornucopia of sweets made by hand, using traditional techniques, with stunning colors and the sweetness will be available - in limited quantities with an emphasis on natural ingredients. Hila Ochman © Ella Faust Hila Hochman is Israel's most veteran sweet maker, crafting marmalades from nettles and hubeiza plants. In a course on herbal medicines, Hochman became acquainted with nettles, a wild plant that blends into marmalades with the fruit of the bitter orange tree (hushhash in Arabic) growing in her back yard. "Making sweets that are connected to the land excites me," she says. Because minerals from the plant are preserved during the production process, the nettle marmalade is effectively a super food that's healthy and not just sweet. The marmalades certainly have their place, but the focus is inevitably drawn to the nostalgic roosters. Hochman obtained the ori

No Israeli enjoys meeting other Israelis abroad, but eating at an authentic Israeli place is always a plus. Here are a few small places in Berlin you can snack in or eat on the go, and love every bite Berlin is loved by Tel Avivians in many ways, but its culinary offering is not one of them. Yet in the nightlife, fashion and culture areas, the German capital has the advantage over other cities. The Israeli food and culinary world stimulate the envy and admiration of the Germans. So if you can't see any more fries and pork sausage combos, do not be embarrassed to look for an Israeli food stall and even feel proud that you are actually acting as a full-fledged Berliner. These are the smallest and best places to be happy and to soothe your stomachs between vintage shops, parks and clubs.  Lia's Kitchen A small vegan lunch from Israeli guys making delicious vegan hamburgers like: a mushroom burger with smoked barbecue maple or vegan Chicken cheeseburger. Also on the menu are salads, children's dishes, smoothies and desserts. Lia's Kitchen FB page Lia's Kitchen, Kollwitzstrasse 47, +49 30 68324637 KORIAT In his little coffee shop, Aviv Koriat, a former kibbutznik, presents his own work: homemade cakes, croissants, baguettes, muffins and chocolate cookies. And if you convince him he might agree to show you his paintings, that are no less beautiful than the pastries. KORIAT FB page KORIAT, Brunhildstraße 3, +49 30 23948478 ZULA Small, medium and large hummus with a long list of

The restaurant Emesh (meaning 'last night' in biblical Hebrew), will be built on the ruins of the beloved Georgian restaurant, Nanuchka, and promises a Mediterranean menu, fine raw ingredients, and a thoughtful use of the various interior spaces   When Nanuchka closed its doors at the beginning of last summer, a hole opened in Tel Aviv's nightlife. Emesh, a new restaurant taking over the infamous location, will fill the space in a similar but different way. "We wanted to preserve what was in Nanuchka, not the vegan aspect, but the experience of a restaurant that develops into a happy bar. The original floor remains the same and the person who spent time in Nanuchka in those wild days says our bar is very reminiscent of how it once was," says Omer Oz, from the Nox group, along with Shlomi Dayan and other partners (considered some of the leading nightlife entrepreneurs in Tel Aviv). Emesh © Amir Menahem Emesh will be spread across a bar, a restaurant, and a courtyard. Its name reflects the changing experience of re-creation that the group wishes to visualize. "We looked for a Hebrew name that connects to the experience of time. You can start the evening early in the restaurant, continue to the most Tel Avivian courtyard with a chill atmosphere, and then move to a bar that spreads over two floors. On weekends it will have a happy atmosphere with dancing on the bar and music that is hard to define, but will certainly not be electronic." Emesh © Amir Menahem On the culinary s

The paintings and drawings featured in Pravda, Zoya Cherkassky's first solo exhibition at the Israel Museum, deal with the experience of Aliyah from Russia in the 1990’s, exploring stereotypes, fake news, and questions of Jewish identity The journey of artists from the perimeter to the center of the consensus is an interesting topic, especially when considering artists like Zoya Cherkassky – someone who placed a question mark on the permitted and the forbidden within art, who has now opened her first solo exhibition at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, offering her own unique viewpoint on Israeli society.   Kosher Inspection, 2016 Courtesy of the artist and Rosenfeld Gallery       Cherkassy, 41, was born in Kiev (what was then the Soviet Union, and today the Ukraine). Zoya made Aliyah to Israel with her family in the early '90s and is now part of the New Barbizon, an artists’ group dealing with realistic painting. Her first solo exhibition, which opened on January 10, includes paintings and drawings created in recent years that deal with her immigration. “The exhibition is a project that went on for seven years,” she says. “It's the first time that the subject of Aliyah from the Soviet Union has been given so much attention in Israeli art. It began as a project about stereotypes on both sides, but whilst I was working on it, it expanded in different directions.”   Fuck Hebrew, 2012 Courtesy of the artist and Rosenfeld Gallery   The exhibition's title, Pravda (“truth” in Eng

Remember the trending "Rainbow Cake"? Feast your eyes on the new(ish) Jewish version: the "Rainbow Challah." The inventor of the patent belongs to Amy Kritzer, 34, a San Francisco blogger currently in Israel. "I came up with the idea one time when I made a braided challah from six parts. Jewish food always has a brown color, like kugel and stew, for example, and I like colorful things, fun is fun. "I made it for a lesbian wedding in Austin and people were really enthusiastic about it. Children loved it, too. Now I'm thinking about how to use natural materials instead of food coloring." © Amy Kritzer Kritzer grew up in a Jewish home in Texas, and says that from a young age she used to bake with her grandmother: "People know Italian and Chinese food, so why not eat Jewish food?" She turned to the source, aka her grandmother and mother, for a large quantity of recipes. "I tried them out, but I don't like following instructions to a T, so I started to change things up a bit. Since I was living in Texas at the time, I added spices and local ingredients like Chili."   © Amy Kritzer         Her blog is called What Jew Wanna Eat and contains recipes for every Jewish holiday. The style: colorful, happy,  with clear American influences.   Kritzer has more than 37,000 followers on Instagram, not necessarily Jews. "I think that there's no need to be a Jew to enjoy Jewish food. In my house they ate Ashkenazi Jewish food from Russia, but there is also Jewish-African and Mexican-Jewish

A mutual trust among chefs is quite rare. Tomer Agay (42), who has climbed his way from being a sous chef at Yaffo-Tel Aviv restaurant to Santa Katarina with the encouragement of his boss Haim Cohen, has a lot of experience. He has now brought Chef Idan Peretz (31) to Jericho - a new restaurant and bar that opened this week in the Greek Market in Jaffa.   Peretz began his career as a bartender in La Shuk at Dizengoff Square. "The kitchen was always calling to me, I went in for a few shifts and fell in love." From there, he went to work in the Popina kitchen, ran the Fleamarket kitchen, and returned to Popina as a chef. Last year, Peretz participated in the S. Pellegrino Young Chef competition and won first place in Israel and third in the Middle East. He came to "Jericho" through an acquaintance with one of the owners and was supposed to serve as an acting chef under Agay. But plans are one thing and reality is another.   © Anatoly Michaello An organized mess   "We saw how Santa Katarina works in the atmosphere and culinary line of a shuk, but in terms of materials and strictness, it is very far from being like a shuk, and we wanted to make a similar concept that connected this atmosphere with our food," says Yair Yunes, one of the owners.   "My style lies somewhere between Popina and Santa Katarina," says Agay. "I love the cleanness and elegance of Popina's language, so I connected it to the culinary culture I grew up in - a local, Mediterranean market with winks to Greece