Chez Romy is not just another "in" Tel Aviv eatery. The instant you enter and see the interior, it becomes fully clear that you have been transported in time and space, like Billy Pilgrim in Kurt Vonnegut's novel, not to a distant planet but to Paris of the mid-1960s. The dining area is long and narrow, with subdued red walls and light brown drapes. The floor is old wood, and the black tables hold single stem flower vases that are used as candleholders. This could be nothing other than a neighborhood bistro in nearly any arrondisement of Paris during the early to mid 1960s. Adding to the realism of this illusion are the photos of French film stars of the '60s on the walls, and, quietly played in the background, the music of Edith Piaf, Maurice Chevalier and Charles Aznavour. There is a quiet but constant buzz coming from the kitchen. With no feeling whatever of artifice, this is retro at its very best. Better yet, the dishes offered up are precisely those that gave Parisian bistros their very good name.
My companion opted to open with the onion soup, solidly traditional, reminiscent of the soups that you would eat anywhere in the early hours of the morning at small joints scattered throughout Les Halles when that huge market, now defunct, was justifiably known as "the belly of Paris." It is made by combining thinly sliced onions, dry white wine and butter in a baking dish and baking in the oven until the onions are soft and the liquids almost evaporated, distributing the onions in small bowls and then pouring on rich chicken stock, sprinkling with grated cheese and finishing under a hot grill until the cheese is melted and lightly browned. Here the dish was light and full of flavor, calling to mind critic Robert Courtine's maxim that "the onion is the truffle of the poor." All that was missing from the soup was the bread crouton that many Parisian cooks floated on the soup before sprinkling on the cheese.
My choice for a first course was the chicken liver pate. In this dish chicken livers are sauteed with shallots in butter, cognac, sweet cream and spices are added and then these ingredients are blended until they form a smooth mixture, which is transferred to a terrine coated with well-chilled butter. The pate was another simple but remarkably rewarding offering. Even the fig confiture served was well-made, adding a welcome touch of sweetness to the dish.
The most traditional of all the bistro dishes of those long-gone days was almost surely steak-frites, that is, entrecote steak and French fries, which is what I chose. The entrecote steak was just as it should be, cooked medium-rare as ordered and with just enough fat to add succulence. In the only variation on the fully classic theme, in place of French fries, the dish was served with deep-fried onion rings.
The other main course we tried was fillet of sea bream, with a hyper-simple but appealing sauce of butter, sweet cream and almonds. The fish and the sauce were good as was the accompanying potato puree, but it would have been appreciated had a bit of additional care been paid to removing the bones from the fish.
We tried two desserts. A delicious Ile Flottante (literally "floating island") had stiffly whipped egg whites that had been poached floating in a sauce anglaise, which is basically a rich and liquidy vanilla-flavored custard. Spooned over the dish was liquified caramel that became crisp as the mixture cooled. This dessert, a favorite of French schoolchildren and adults, brought smiles to our faces. The second dessert we tried was a good but not special chocolate eclair.
The greeting we received on entering was genuinely warm and throughout our meal the service was friendly and responsive. If there was any fault to be found at all it is that the wine list was somewhat weak, and the house policy is not to allow clients to bring their own wines. We went for the red Cote de Ventoux of Jaboulet, which makes a very good match to the dishes offered.
Our food bill for two came to a very reasonable NIS 186 to which the wine of our choice added NIS 105. You will find nothing modern or daring about the food here but if it is French neighborhood bistro cuisine and a bit of nostalgia that you seek, this is a place worth visiting no matter in what neighborhood you live in the city. I intend to make this one of my regular ports-of-call.
Chez Romy, 10 Herzl, Tel Aviv. Open daily 8 A.M. to 2 A.M. Tel. (03) 517-5474.
