Palina is a good and close friend but we get very little to meet – she has a small child, I have a little bigger child. But, I have to say that she is consistent in her persistence to meet. What is nice about our meetings is that they always involve good food and quality alcohol. 

This time Palina said, “There is a new restaurant in our neighborhood, let’s check it.” You don’t need to persuade me to go to a new restaurant, or an old one . She even booked us a table a week in advance.

85/15 is a new restaurant-bar in Rabin Square, located on the corner of Gordon st. 85 and Malchei Israel st. 15 and hence is the name. The name actually took me to places of meat mixes like: 15% the fat content of the meat, which can be a nice inspiration for a restaurant’s name.

I’ll go ahead and say that everything written here is my personal and unfunded opinion.

So let’s get started.

The design

85/15 resto-bar’s design is contemporary and clean: light oak on a white background, a few black elements, and green plants to break the monochromatic look.

The toilets on the second floor are designed in the same clean and cozy style and have nothing that goes beyond (something I enjoy seeing in restaurants or bars is the design riot that breaks out in this intimate place). Before the toilet is a pleasant waiting area with a large couch that is there for the design more than for comfort because you can sit only on its edge.

The inside area of the restaurant is entirely dedicated to the bar and the kitchen and the tables are located on the sidewalk between columns that hide behind plants. The kitchen is half open and can be observed when coming down from the second floor. The restaurant is closed by a vitrine (in the winter) and in total has a pleasant atmosphere.

The service

A friendly hostess welcomed us at the entrance and led us to a corner table adjacent to the vitrine facing the street just behind a column and a plant. The corner is intimate and nice, although you are right on the street.

The waiter who served us was nice but a little insecure, what felt mainly while ordering food and drinks, he did not have information to add to our choices.

The Food

I’ll start by saying that there was not a lot of excitement recorded for the food. We came starving, at the end of a long day and we hoped to indulge in new delicious dishes. 

We started with two dishes: white fish sashimi, blood orange, small winter leaves and bergamot oil [NIS 54] and veal tonsils, winter cabbage sprouts and celery root velvet [NIS 82]. We decided to continue from there.

I can eat raw fish anytime and in any state of hunger. When I crave foods is usually raw fish. 

The sashimi was missing flavors that lifting a raw fish. Now, when I look at the pictures I took, I can not identify the blood orange, and I think it’s just this sour taste that was missing. The dish was missing something fresh and particularly the bergamot oil made the dish fish “hot” and heavy instead of refreshing. 

Veal tonsils – The first bite was a dream. The level of cooking was precise for the tonsils to remain melting in the mouth. But from the second bite, the seasoning began to take over the meat and weaken their tenderness. The sprouts are sprouts, I never understood its uniqueness. And only the velvet was really velvety and the best thing in the dish.

Both servings were small and did not satisfy us. So we decided to continue with spicy tomato salad, pomegranate, and yogurt stone [NIS 36], which we ordered without the yogurt because Palina doesn’t mix meat and dairy products, and roasted organic potatoes and “skordalia “[NIS 38].

Both dishes were nice. Well, tomato and potato, as far as I’m concerned, are ingredients that can appear in every meal of my day and I’ll be happy. I guess the yogurt would complement the tomatoes. The skordalia is quite flattering to the potato, but it is also a bit heavy on it because, between us, there is really no substitute for sour cream on a baked potato.

The drinks

The place serves a list of cocktails as common at the new places in town. It seems to me that any place that counts itself feels that if it does not have a whole page on a menu dedicated to cocktails, it has no right to exist. And I say you don’t have to. They always look much better on the page and cost far too much to the taste and experience they provide. My problem is that I’m always tempted to order them in the hope that I’m going to find the winning one. 

Palina, after deliberating (and dragging me down the cocktail slope) went for white wine (Sylvaner Alto Adige [46 NIS]).
I’ll always go for cocktails with gin – like the drink. I ordered the Gibson Martini – Gin Mara, Dry Martini,  pearl onion and giant capers [NIS 56]. Don’t know why I expected something else, it’s all written on the menu – like it sounded it was strong and definitely didn’t fit for Monday evening when most of the week before us. The cocktail was very quickly replaced for the Fitzgerald – Bombay, St Germain, Lime [46 NIS], which was definitely delicious and interesting, just the sourness I like and the yolk twist definitely added but its scent also dominated the drink and halfway down the glass was already too noticeable and took away from the enjoyment of the drink.

To sum up 85/15

85/15 is a very nice place to go out with friends or for a date, but don’t come too hungry – the prices of the dishes are disproportionate to their taste and size. 

After writing my review, I read some more reviews. I found some articles of people who enjoyed the food more then I did and the dishes they liked less were also the ones I didn’t enjoy. So I feel I should go back to 85/15 and check out more dishes because the place itself is quite nice.

Have you already visited 85/15? What did you think? Tell me in the comments below.

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