Yossi Shitrit's Grill House Offers Great Food Despite High Prices

The new grill restaurant, "Ofrit," associated with renowned chef Yossi Shitrit and architect Pitzu Kadam, offers a surprisingly pleasant atmosphere despite its upscale location in Tel Aviv's Da Vinci Towers in Sarona. While Kadam's design is sleek and modern, featuring a dramatic two-story ventilation system, the restaurant avoids feeling stuffy or overly formal, creating a lively and enjoyable dining experience.

The menu highlights impressive grilling equipment, including a striking charcoal grill and a unique pebble grill used for baking the restaurant's Moroccan flatbread, known as "farna." The meal begins with a "table opening" service, featuring a variety of salads and the excellent farna bread. Alongside standard tahini and labneh, the offerings include a notable fennel salad, a superior baba ghanoush with yogurt, a delicious stuffed spleen, a flavorful pepper and nut salad, an exceptional onion salad, a fine herb salad, a good Turkish salad, and olives.

Standout dishes include three large, hot falafel balls, potentially the meal's highlight. The stuffed spleen, while not surpassing the famous version from Ol'ga Grills, is a spicy and well-prepared dish served over a hearty wheat stew. The "L'besh" skewer, a combination of thin Armenian flatbread and kebab, is described as both delicious and visually appealing. The chicken kebab, made with chicken thigh and beef fat, is juicy and surprising. The duck skewer is noted for its rich, meaty flavor, enhanced by a subtle glaze of smoked paprika, garlic, and amba.

A sea bass skewer, marinated in citrus and coriander seeds, offers a less traditional but well-executed option. All skewers are served with grilled onions, tomatoes, and parsley, maintaining a familiar grill house presentation. The meal concludes with a heavy and citrusy Greek "Portokalopita" cake, served with orange cream, and mint tea.

Despite the "sky-high" prices, typical of establishments opened by prominent chefs like Shitrit and his contemporaries such as Assaf Granit, the quality of the food at Ofrit is deemed excellent. The article suggests that even established, less expensive grill houses are no longer as affordable, implying Ofrit's pricing, while high, is somewhat comparable in the current market.