Villa Mare is a welcome addition to the Tel Aviv boardwalk - food review

Opening a new restaurant is always a big gamble, as many fail to survive even their first year. It is even a bigger gamble to open one on the beach in Tel Aviv, where competition is especially fierce. Add to these odds the fact that foreign tourism has still not recovered in the wake of the pandemic, and it takes a particularly gutsy entrepreneur to undertake such a venture.

Evidently, however, when you already own and operate a very popular beach restaurant, you are confident that you can replicate your success. Thus was born behind Tel Aviv’s hotel row Villa Mare TLV, sister restaurant to Villa Mare in Bat Yam. 

The premises are inviting: a handsome turquoise-and-white interior décor and a wide-open deck furnished with bleached wooden tables. Its slight elevation above street level affords an expansive view of the Mediterranean, and enables catching pleasant late afternoon breezes from the sea. 

Adding to the informal atmosphere are the basic wooden chairs (which feel a bit hard after prolonged seating) and the lack of place settings: cutlery and napkins are placed in canisters in the center of the table. Funky music plays on the soundtrack at acceptable levels of volume. 

As we perused the menu, we were served a complimentary house “chaser”: a pleasant shot of gin and red grapefruit juice. As we sipped, we noticed that Villa Mare offers a lot of special discounts, throughout the day: 1+1 on classic Israeli breakfasts, value lunches, and evening happy hours on alcoholic drinks and even desserts. 

There are illustrated cocktail cards on each table – all completely in English. From it we chose the Red Stinger and Berry Mojito – both tall, cold, fruity and refreshing cocktails, just what one might expect at the beach.

The trilingual food menu (which also appears online) reflects the cuisine that has been a winning formula for the original Villa Mare: “Meat and Seafood by the Sea,” inspired by the tastes of southern Italy. It comprises no fewer than 11 sections: Starters (NIS 39-59, [including house breads, NIS 9-19]); Salads (NIS 39-59); Crispy & Grill (NIS 79-99); Pasta & Risotto (NIS 65-99), Surf & Turf (NIS 79-199), Main Fish (NIS 89-168), Main Meat (NIS 69-119), Burgers (NIS 69-99), Sides (NIS 11), Kids’ Meals (NIS 39) and Desserts (NIS 45). 

The composition of the menu demonstrates that the owner understands diners’ concerns: the restaurant pledges, for example, that children will be served right away. In addition, vegan and gluten-free options are identified as such with appropriate symbols. 

We began with one of the former: Artichoke – morsels of fresh artichoke with baby greens and Kalamata olives, dressed liberally with olive oil, yellow tehina, chili and garlic confit. This was a tasty salad that would certainly please non-vegetarians as well.   

Next was the Chicken Liver Pâté, generous slabs of pate served with seasonal fruit jams and toast. Unfortunately, this tasted more like chopped liver shaped into molded rectangles than real pâté; nevertheless, helped along by the clearly homemade jams containing chunks of candied fruit, we had no problem devouring the entire plate.  

We knew we wanted to choose at least one main course from the Surf & Turf category, which is not a common one on Israeli menus. After some difficulty, we settled on the Jumbo Shrimp with smoked goose in cream sauce. The plump shrimp were a bit chewy, and the slices of meat overly large – but these are mere quibbles in what was overall a delicious and satisfying dish.

We were tempted to continue in this vein, but another dish that is a rare sight on local menus was an equally irresistible draw: Pasta Carbonara (listed as “smoked goose carbonara linguine”). The dish was served just right, with a shimmering egg yolk front and center. I would have preferred smaller shards of goose – or even lamb bacon, if a restaurant that serves seafood still insists on eschewing the real thing – but once I had sprinkled on extra grated Parmesan cheese (which had to be requested), this filling portion was as good as any you might find in an exclusively Italian restaurant.    

Desserts, listed on a separate English menu, are made in-house by the same talented chef who prepared our meal. Three of the five desserts are made with mascarpone cream, which is already a good start. The pistachio mousse with mascarpone cream, whipped meringue and ground hazelnuts was light and sweet, but our favorite was the raspberry tart: the layer of ruby-red tiny fresh raspberries was bursting with flavor, and complemented perfectly by the rich cream and flaky crust.