No place like home - Restaurants - Israel travel and tourism

With a heavy Persian accent, creative wallpaper, and new friends offering suggestions for afternoon activities, Nayev, located in Levinsky Market, offers tasty food in a pleasant, homely environment.

Having grown up in an Ashkenazi house, I entrusted a Persian friend to help me evaluate the quality of the food. I can tell you whether it was tasty or not -Nayev deserves to be rated very highly indeed. The friend, for whom rice was the center of his life, did not come to my aid in the end. But even without him, when I realized I was the only customer that did not speak Persian with the waiters, I understood that Nayev has real Persian character.

I was seated next to one of the green tables, overlooking breath-taking, if two-dimensional, views of gardens full of colorful flowers, fountains, wide grassy pastures and boats sailing along the sea's horizon. The bright wallpaper made you forget the noise of the market that continued on the other side of the wall. The waiter approached the table, a man of about fifty, and in his hand, a basket of pita and a plate of mixed green leaves, sliced radish and half an onion. In his other hand were some small plates of salad. He immediately recognized that it was my first time and told me the menu -"Grill or Persian dishes".

I opted for the daily Persian dish and after less then a minute, the waiter returned with a huge plate of white rice and a bowl containing beef in a slightly sweet sauce seasoned with herbs and spices, brown beans and Persian lemon. For the beginner Persian, he added some technical instruction-pour the cooked food over the rice. I asked several times for the name of the dish but the heavy Persian accent prevented me from understanding the waiter's pronunciation. In the end, both of us were satisfied with the Hebrew translation "green vegetable stew". This same green vegetable stew, slightly bitter, spicy and invigorating, excelled in a wealth of flavors that won my dietician's approval-the consumption of six spoons of rice a day. The dietician also says that you can eat as much vegetables as you want, so I allowed myself to finish all of the green leaves!

At the end of the meal, the waiter asked me how the experience was. It turned out that the two friendly pensioners seated on the table next to me (who had helped me with the interpretation of the dish: Khoresh Sabzi) were also interested in my opinion. We started to discuss Persian food and the little pleasures in life; they talked about their children and their wives. They explained to me that after a Persian meal, you eat fresh fruit; the most enjoyable is eating a dessert of cold cherries in summer. They of course also recommended a glass of good wine and a long sleep but they recommended before that some more intimate forms of exercise, not to be mentioned in front of young children.

After I drank sweet black tea with my new friends, I asked for the bill. The whole meal including the drink came to 53 NIS. I parted from my friends and thanked the waiter for his service who in return made me promise to return to sample additional dishes. I felt as if I was leaving an apartment of old acquaintances. I started to walk among the spice stores of the Levinsky Market, when all of sudden, I could only think about "fresh fruit".

Nayev: Zebulon 12, Tel Aviv. Tel: 03 682 9370. Opening hours: Monday-Thursday 11:00-18:00; Friday 11:00-16:00.

City Mouse (mouse.co.il)