Who could refuse an invitation to sample the food at this well-established eatery in the heart of the city?
By GLORIA DEUTSCHAnastasia, Tel Aviv(photo credit: EDEN SAADA)
With Tel-Aviv being labeled the undisputed vegan capital of the world, and Anastasia being chosen as its top vegan restaurant, who could refuse an invitation to sample the food at this well-established eatery in the heart of the city?While I confess that I could never embrace veganism completely, my son David has been vegan for many years so I’m very familiar with the principles of cooking vegan food and long ago discovered the amazing versatility of red lentils.We sat on the patio of the restaurant one balmy evening recently, observing the trendy denizens of Tel-Aviv walking or jogging past our table. Bearded men – could someone please explain this sudden burgeoning of hairy chins that seems to have taken over the world? – dog-walkers, oldies all out for a constitutional.Our waiter, Ziv, was very helpful and, like all the other waiters, kept his mask firmly in place all evening. He suggested the pâté as a starter and we shared the dish. It looked like the real thing, presented on a wooden board together with crispy whole meal toast, a pile of green leaves in a piquant dressing and garnished with pickled onion and chopped pistachios.We found it quite acceptable and spent some time speculating as to what had been substituted for the liver from which pâté is normally made. Neither I nor my companion could figure it out although a quick glance at the menu would have revealed that the main ingredient was black lentils (NIS 44).For the main courses we chose the vegetable curry (NIS 64) and the dish of mushroom on purée (NIS 69). The curry arrived in an attractive black ceramic bowl and the first unusual thing was that the rice usually served with curry had been replaced by quinoa. That was fine with me. The vegetables in the nicely hot (in both senses) sauce were cauliflower which had been roasted, chick peas, sweet potato still with the skin on and my favorite herb, cilantro (coriander leaves) and plenty of it. I found the dish very tasty and satisfying.Meanwhile, my companion was tucking in to an assortment of almost meaty mushrooms served on a bed of pureed chick peas, which I suppose is actually hummus, if you think about it. The dish provided a very good combination of pungent flavors and was polished off to the last crumb.One of the owners of Anastasia visited us, who told us that he was a fruitarian, someone whose only form of nutrition is, well, fruit. He was very thin but looked healthy enough, and we later discovered that watermelon, a fruit I never buy because it takes up too much room in the refrigerator, actually is a source of protein. For dessert, our waiter highly recommended the cheesecake and this turned out to be a good choice. It was very creamy – although presumably made from tofu of some sort – and served with a coulis of passion fruit.The contrast between the sour coulis and the sweet cake was a potent challenge to the taste buds.The liquid refreshment was Fat Cat Israeli beer (NIS 28) and a glass of Chenin Blanc wine (NIS 38), both light refreshing drinks with just the right alcohol level.Two excellent cappuccinos made from oat milk ended this unusual and very pleasant dining experience.AnastasiaVegan, without kosher supervision54 Frishman Street, Tel-Aviv.Sunday-Thursday 9 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday: 9 a.m - 5 p.m. Shabbat – 10 a.m.-11 p.m.The writer was a guest of the restaurant.
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