Recipes from Tel Aviv

Anyone who wants to eat insanely good Israeli food goes to NENI. You can find it in Berlin and Vienna, among other places, and soon in Amsterdam too. And if that’s still too far away for you, you can also recreate the recipes at home with their first cookbook.

I’m often invited to press dinners and restaurant openings, perks of the job, but NENI’s pop-up dinner is the one that has stood head and shoulders above the rest for me this year. I still talk about it every week, and it was in June. Go figure. Incredible roasted aubergine with tahini sauce, sea bass kebab and the absolute best pita bread I’ve ever eaten. Ever!

Since the dinner, I’ve been eagerly looking forward to the restaurant opening, so I can always have all this delicious food at my disposal. But the restaurant’s recipes are now also in their own cookbook. Even easier! Or, well, at least cheaper.

The whole table spread

NENI stands for the initials of the four brothers, who started the restaurant together with their mother. You can expect that family feeling in the restaurant, but also in the recipes from the book. Mother Haya loves nothing more than sharing her passion around a long table full of friends, balagan style. Loosely translated: a charming chaos. The book contains recipes that are substantial enough to serve as a main course, but you can also fill the whole table with smaller bites, dips and spreads.

From street food to pop-up

For the book, Haya and her sons went on a journey of discovery through Tel Aviv. They were inspired by street food, classic restaurants and trendy pop-ups. The book includes recipes for roasted corn with chili butter, just like you eat it on the street, as well as green shakshuka, fried sardines with green aioli, beef tartare bruschetta and juicy chicken shawarma. And yes, it also includes the recipe for the very best pita, which surprisingly is made with focaccia dough.

Title: Tel Aviv
Author: NENI
Publisher: Terra
Price: €29,99