bicicleta
Whether it’s a failed date or brunch with girlfriends from high school, since I came back from New York it just became my regular spot. There is something about this hidden backyard that feels like an intimate retreat but is still colorful from the noise of the Benjamin estate. I’m always left with a thought about what my waitress does when she’s not serving there, because the whole staff there just sparkles, from those who really look you in the eye and speak from the heart. In terms of food recommendations: in the morning – an avocado sandwich. In the evening – tahini and their amazing parana bread as a side dish for everything. Delicious and warm like a good hug.
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A spot that you can’t get enough of. Bichikalta (Photo: Sapir Khosa)
Wine Shop – Wine Shop
The neighborhood wine shop. Cute little place with good energy. Since one of the sellers recommended me an Italian white wine that somehow only they have, Talamonti Trabiano d’Abruzzi, I fell hard in love with it (with the wine, not the seller) and any other store or wine became a kind of compromise. They are always on my way to somewhere, there is always a reason to stop, and you always get a cool reusable bag, which also serves as a reminder later after a few of them are stored on the shelf, that maybe this is a sign to calm down a bit with the wine.
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Wine shop. Photo: From the Instagram page of Khanam Yin
Drezner Park
Or as we used to call it “the field”. As someone who grew up in the far north (of Tel Aviv) I adopted it as something from a mysterious backyard playground. This is a huge field that all the residents of the neighborhood know and love to take their dogs out to in the morning, but beyond that it is quite desolate and magical. Its size is unfathomable to the existing Tel Aviv, starting from a row of Ramat Aviv villas and extending approximately to Cinema City. You make your way between cars parked next to a school, and in a moment you are launched into an atmosphere that is definitely pastoral and definitely neglected. Nature in its naturalness. In the summer you have to be a little careful with snakes and in the winter you can watch the ducks that arrive at the lake that miraculously forms after the rain.
The dirt path that leaves from the Rosin Community Center, Drezner St. 2, Ramat Aviv III
Drezner Park. Photography: Lee Bader
in Anna
I stopped eating meat at 18, before it was cool. And no, being a vegetarian does not include fish. And no, I’m not vegan, even though I live in Tel Aviv. I discovered Bana after I moved to my last apartment, and every time I feel like I won some kind of prize just from the number of options open to me on the menu. So for the vegetarians and vegans we built – it’s a cute vegan place that’s fun to sit, talk and snack on some tofu or cauliflower (which I wish they’d put back on the menu, come on Anna, it was such a dollop of a dish). The sourdough bread is also noteworthy and always functions as a good starter for the rabitza there.
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Glowing loneliness. in Anna (photo by Ella Raz)
coffee heart
Confession: I seriously considered whether to mention this gem here or not. Because… she is mine and a few others who know of her existence and maybe I want her to stay that way? Because it’s part of her charm? But okay, how much will they read by now, right? So this is a hidden cafe near Bialik Square, one where you can really work. A quiet, homely place, with a hipster scent. One that must be on hand for anyone on the spectrum of attention deficit disorder or who needs a place that is not her home to really concentrate on working on the computer. There is also good coffee and even kombucha.
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Heart coffee. From Instagram