The city: Apologies for the lack of reviews lately Short Mac Markers... I was away for four weeks and the last thing I felt like doing was writing coffee reviews... But I'm back now! And I want to start with a summary of the short mac's in one of my favourite cities in the world - Tel Aviv! Forget about what you see on the news, read in the papers and hear when you walk past left wing, socialist protests on university campuses...this city rocks! When one of my work colleagues heard I was going to Israel he asked me "Is it safe?"... My response was that he was more likely to get bashed whilst walking down King St, Melbourne on any given night than I was of getting blown up on a bus anywhere in Israel... And, in addition to having some of the most beautiful girls in the world, the culinary scene in Tel Aviv is on fire! Good quality food and at prices that put Melbourne to shame... Anyway, this blog is about short macs so lets get to the coffee!
The coffee: Firstly, and in a bit of a Pulp Fiction kind of moment, I should let you know that in Tel Aviv, a short mac is known as a 'macchiato katsar' which translates to short macchiato! And on average, I paid about 9 - 10 shekels for a coffee. This equates to about A$2.50.
I actually took detailed tasting notes for all of the above six macchiato katsar's (and that certainly is not how you say the plural of macchiato katsar!) however, I unfortunately have no idea where these notes are... But, I'm pretty sure I remember where I had each of these coffee's so I might just give you the location details and a small summary of each place. Apologies for the quality of some of the pics and the messy lay out for this entry... I tried to make it neater but it just wasn't happening...
1 - Lulu - Alkalay St in the Basel Square area. A relaxed, quiet cafe with an interesting menu. Basel Square is full of cafe's and restaurants but this one stood out and makes a damn nice short mac.
2 - Dallal Bakery Shop - Neve Tzedek. This bakery is part of the Suzanne Dallal cultural centre and is located down a street that runs off Shabazi Street in Neve Tzedek. Suzanne Dallal is an icon in Neve Tzedek and everything associated with it oozes class and quality. The bakery shop makes delicious goodies and the coffee was amazing. Definitely has a Parisian feel about it...
3 - Ahat Ha'am - On Ahad ha'am street, near Balfour Street. I went here at the recommendation of my friend Joel...and I wasn't at all disappointed. A neighbourhood cafe, dishing out modern meals with friendly waitresses. Really good coffee in a relaxed, Tel Aviv environment.
4 - Mae cafe - Karmel Market. These boys are serious about coffee! And have five different single origins available to drink and buy. Easily the closest thing to a Melbourne coffee I had whilst in Tel Aviv. I promised them I would do a review so hopefully they see this!
5 - Lehamim Bakery - 99 Hashmonaim St. A large, high quality bakery that makes fantastic breads and pasteries. Again, this was a recommendation of my friend Joel and we joined him there for coffee and cake one morning. Excellent short mac.
6 - Hilynca - 76 Arlozorov St. I found this place whilst searching online for coffee recommendations in Tel Aviv and what a find it was... A beautiful, quiet neighbourhood cafe with extremely friendly staff. If I lived in that area, it would definitely be my local. Really good food and both times I visited I received perfect coffee. I wish I was there right now...
