Review: "Jovani" Restaurant, Tiberias, Israel

Delicious ravioli at "Jovani" TIberias, Israel

We're on our way from Jerusalem up to Vered Hagalil. No GPS, but this looks easy on the map. We just need to pass through Tiberias, stay on the same road headed north around the Sea of Galilee (Kinerret), and we should be there in half an hour. Pretty much follow the coast. Hmm, the road is turning inland. We must have missed the turn. Let's try again. Hmm, no obvious main road headed up the coast. All these side streets dead end. Maybe the turn was earlier. Argh! Three tries later we are punchy and very hungry and worried about a nap for Mini-Me.

Tiberias is one of those resort towns that I would normally avoid, especially for eating. But since we are desperate, we just park the car and pick the first place that looks half decent and hope they can give us directions along with lunch. The sign in English said "Jovani" and "Espresso Bar", but in Hebrew it is something closer to "Giovanni".

Boy were we glad we got lost! I'd been avoiding ordering pasta since we were headed shortly to Italy, but I broke down here. The ravioli in the picture above was simple but stellar, with a homemade tomato sauce that was practically vibrating with fresh flavors. We all shared that along with huge, beautiful Greek and Israeli salads.

And thus my continued amazement with food in this tiny country. Nothing fancy - in fact, ultra casual. The owner's daughter is chilling with her friends at the next table and the tab was maybe $40 for the four of us. It is just that the ingredients are insanely fresh and flavorful, and prepared with simple care, an experience that seems so infrequent in the US but the norm here. Like most Israeli restaurants (either kosher-dairy or non-kosher), it is a vegetarian paradise with lots of options and no stealth meat.

And the owner, who spoke excellent English, gave us directions too. We simply needed to follow that road that was headed inland for 7 Km, and it would head north again, have faith. Mmm. Not... so... much. We ended up making a huge box, going an hour out of our way and swearing that after we got settled we'd have to drive back south and figure out where the road really was just to satisfy our curiosity!

So I can't give you exact directions to Jovani, but if you enter town from the south it is one block left of the main street, in what seems to be the older downtown area filled with normal shops. I can't find anything about it on the web, though maybe someone who does Hebrew on their keyboard can track it down for us and add a comment? I've included a picture of the exterior below, and I'm sure a local could point you to it easily.

"Jovani" Restaurant in Tiberias, Israel

Breakfast In Israel - So Amazing! (including Reviews of the Dan Panorama Jerusalem, Metropolitan Suites Tel Aviv, Vered Hagalil, and Yotvata)

Breakfast at Yotvata Kosher (Dairy) Restaurant in Tel Aviv

Breakfast in Israel is kind of an amazing thing, and a vegetarian's paradise.

Our first venue was the Dan Panorama Hotel in Jerusalem where we were treated to an unbelievable buffet that is included in the room price. Five enormous tables had perhaps fifty or more choices including cheeses, yogurts, and labnehs, breads of all sorts, sweet and savory pastries such as borekas, half a dozen fresh salads that changed daily, an omelette and pancake station, fresh fruit, fresh squeezed orange and grapefruit juice, great mounds of halvah, and I'm surely forgetting some things! Most everything was impeccably fresh and the amazing Israeli produce and dairy products made it unforgettable. The biggest problem I had was not to stuff myself so much that I couldn't eat falafel at a reasonable lunch hour.

When we moved to the Vered Hagalil Guest Ranch in the northern part of the country near the Sea of Galilee, there was again a buffet though of more modest proportions, appropriate to the small and rustic resort. Still all of those superb salads and dairy products to die for, and much needed espresso too.

Breakfast Buffet At Vered Hagalil Guest Ranch near the Sea of Galilee

In Tel Aviv, the buffet at the Metropolitan Hotel and Suites was shockingly bad. It was fairly large, maybe half the size of the Dan Panorama, but everything was sad looking and dirty and tasteless. It was like finding myself at a Residence Inn in the States trying to eke out a breakfast from reconstituted waffle strips and imitation egg curds. We didn't go back after the first day.

Instead we started breakfasting at Yotvata, a kibbutz-run, kosher dairy, diner-style restaurant with several locations. The plate in the pictures at the top of this post costs  all of 42 shekels (about $10), and that includes also a huge pitcher of an absolutely fresh fruit smoothie of your choice (get the mango!), and warm bread.  Served on a patio across the street from the Mediterranean no less. Incredible. I don't think the $10 would even cover the food cost for a restaurant in the US. Denny's should take one look at that picture and lock its doors in shame.

And of course if you have been out partying all night in Tel Aviv, a plate of salads might not sound so good. This fellow below opted for fries and a snooze, then dined-and-dashed after the security guard woke him up!

Asleep in the French Fries After A Long Night of Rosh Hashanah Partying in Tel Aviv

Spice Stalls at Mahane Yehuda Market In Jerusalem, Israel (What Kind of Harissa Is This?)

One of the things I look forward to most when touring other countries is to see the spice markets. In Delhi, my driver / guide and I braved one hour of traffic to go about 1.5 Km from where we were to Khari Baoli market and then we had to park in an underground garage that was so crowded that the attendants had to move cars around like a puzzle to fit each new one in!

By comparison the spice stalls at Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem are pretty laid back, just the usual shoving and good natured shouting. I only bought a couple of things, some super-fresh green zatar (above) that tastes most strongly of thyme and sesame, and incredible dry harissa:

I've only been familiar with harissa in the sauce form, but we are pretty sure that is what the man called it. I don't know if it is intended to be soaked to make a harissa sauce or used as a rub or garnish, but in any case it is delicious. It is quite hot and has an intense flavor of roasted dry chilis, with strong herbal undertones, and very beautiful to look at. If anyone can correct me on the name of this mixture or its uses, please add a comment!