"The meat is probably the highest quality I've ever eaten, and Asaf, who lived in Texas for a few years, and knows his meat, agrees with me. A thick cut, perfectly seasoned, and so juicy it hurts…" Michal Shai lays bare 2C's attractive lunch special, with the top quality food and the winning panoramic view.
The idea of going up to 2C was actually Asaf's. We had set up a working lunch at Azrieli, but the jam packed holiday atmosphere, drove us away from the food court. "But I forgot my tuxedo at home", I whined as Asaf dragged me over to the elevator. Word of this restaurant, rumored to be especially exclusive, and known as the ultimate marriage proposal spot (two girlfriends, in the past year alone), had even reached provincial ears. But Asaf insisted, and thank goodness for that, because 2C's business lunch special turned out to be one of the most attractive in the area.
First of all, there is, of course, the view. The restaurant is located on the 49th floor of the one of the Azrieli Towers, and provides one of the best views that an urban restaurant can possibly provide. Asaf and I go round the look out over and over, stuck to the huge glass windows, gazing down at the tiny streets below. From here look like nothing more than a child's race track toy. Asaf then re-enacts some choice moments from Godzilla.
We then go sit at the bar at the entrance to the restaurant, and discover that the bar's business lunch special is no less attractive than the restaurant's: From Sunday to Thursday, 12:00 to 17:00, the bar serves specials catering to the tower's workers (though not exclusively) including house bread, daily special tapas, and a main of choice for NIS 49-59. The restaurant also offers a business lunch special, for those sitting in the restaurant itself, which is located at the top of the tower for the past eight and half years, and has been kosher for the last two.
We start with a kamikaze, the house drink made of vodka, lime, triple sec and sour, that is poured from a crystal bottle into small glasses, and served with spiced olives and salty mixed nuts. Then comes the house bread – two hot and crispy rolls, alongside eggplant salad and cherry tomato salad and kohlrabi salad. We also share a dish off the regular menu that caught my attention: Lamb shawarma, stunningly laid out on a bed of grilled eggplant and tehina. The almost burnt taste of the eggplant went well with the tehina and the incredibly juicy lamb meat.
With the mains, we request and receive a glass of house wine – Poison 2007 by Marom Galil, a light and fruity wine, based on 3 types of grape – cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon and merlot. The dishes themselves – a 200 gram entrecote on a bed of potatoes in Madagascar pepper sauce and a 250 gram hamburger with chips – come on unique serving platters. Opposite Asaf rests a Barbapappa plate (yes, that character from the children's books) with the chips that sit on Barbapappa's head, and the hamburger on his body. The hamburger itself come on a bun, lettuce, and fresh vegetables and with a ketchup packet – 100% mehadrin kosher. The entrecote, which arrived first, is swimming in a light, unobtrusive sauce, and sits on pieces of perfectly baked potato. The meat is probably the highest quality I've ever eaten, and Asaf, who lived in Texas for a few years, and knows his meat, agrees with me. A thick cut, perfectly seasoned, and so juicy it hurts. I'm already starting to regret the deal we made at the start of the meal, that we'd trade dishes in the middle. But then Asaf volunteered to leave me with the entire entrecote...so I start to get suspicious: What's he hiding from me? Can the hamburger that Asaf is inhaling at an alarming rate really be that good? We did switch in the middle, and I saw that yes, the hamburger is also amazing: juicy meat, complemented by the fresh vegetables.
In the meantime, the dear bartender demonstrated what proper, quality service really means. He filled our glasses every time they didn't look full enough, and then opened little packets of wet-naps at the precise moment we'd cleaned our plates, and just a second before we asked. In our opinion, this is just the moment to move on to dessert, which we decide to eat in the restaurant itself, overlooking the view. A beautiful dish with a problematic name – something choco-coco gavanaza – turns out to be chocolate coconut crème on a bed of sweet coconut crunch, and served with a pool of coconut sauce with a crystallized sugar tuile for decoration. We also enjoyed a second dessert with a less complicated name – sorbet – comprised of 3 types of sorbet (strawberry, coconut and passion fruit) which comes with wafer thin pieces of dark chocolate and cubes of espresso jelly. Both desserts were gorgeous, tasty, and both make a good case against my aversion to coconut.
After the meal, we wander a little longer around the lookout, gazing at Tel Aviv from above, choosing our future neighborhoods (some area with red roofs that popped out at me from among the towers), and spy on the nearby event hall "Al Gag HaOlam" (On the Roof of the World) that does events for up to 400 and offers a perfect solution for winter weddings. In the end, we didn't really do much work, so we booked another meeting. I later called my boyfriend, opened my day planner and booked a dinner for us at 2C. I'm dying to see this view at night. And aside from the view, two of my girlfriends already got lucky here.
2C
132 Derech Petach Tikva, Azrieli Tower, 49th floor, Tel Aviv.
Tel: 03-6081990
