We made reservations three weeks in advance for a Friday dinner for a table of four. This was probably unessasary, but we had very high expectations from, what we had been told, was one of the best restaurants in the country.
It is not that we were disappointed. Messa is one of the best restaurants in the country. The food is superb, the design, decadent and the service, satisfying. We were, however, looking forward to something more intriguing, considering that this restaurant supposedly serves high-end dishes with a touch of molecular cooking methods.
For starters we had caramelized goose liver carpaccio with raw tehina, date honey and black sea salt flakes which was surprisingly excellent but also heavy and too large to conquer, a delicous dish of vanilla flavored grilled shrimps on polenta and lightly scorched tuna sashimi on eggplant mouse. The starters were all very good, but were all sweet. This was a surprising choice for the begining of a meal.
We then recieved complimentry creamed onion soup in small metal shot glasses. It was refined and aromatic.
The main courses were seafood couscous, a generous portion of seafood in an excellent broth of crab, lemon and thyme with a portion of regular couscous on the side, a heavier dish of caramelized salmon over coconut risotto and eggplant cream, which again was excellent but sounded more interesting than it was, and a special of grilled makarel served with a nice and casual sweet asian dressing.
Our shared dessert on the other hand, esspresso cream with sugered almonds, was sadly unrefined, overly sweet and looked like a giant brown blob.
In conclusion: beautiful, tasty and well conducted, but could do more.... What can we say...it's very hard to please the Royals.
Onion Soup
Vanilla Shrimps on Soft Polenta
Tuna Sashimi
Grilled Makarel
Seafood Couscous
19 Ha'arbaa St. Tel Aviv
tel 03 6856859
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