Located in an unassuming backstreet of Tel Aviv lies OPA, a vegan fine dining restaurant which focuses on sustainability and responsibly sourced ingredients.
Opa offers bar and table sitting. I always prefer to sit at the bar and to overlook the work done in the open kitchen, which is uniquely stylized in and of itself, showcasing between other things open shelving with all the fermented goods that are made in house and featured throughout the menu.
The atmosphere is laid back and relaxed, and you get all the experience of fine dining without it feeling too formal, as it can get in some restaurants.
The devil is in the details. Starting with the wine menu being presented on dried out cantaloupe peels that were left over from a previous dessert, continuing with the unique and meticulously crafted presentation of each dish, and ending in the color of the dinnerware itself, which seems to complement the earthy feel the restaurant aims to present throughout the menu, our dining experience felt orchestrated and fully thought out to bring all the components of the restaurant together.
Some reservations I did have, the pacing of the dishes was a bit more rushed towards the end of the dinner, though we did arrive slightly late to our reservation. In addition, I wish the music was a bit quieter as we needed to speak loudly to overhear one another. Regardless we had a great time accompanied by fantastic service, food and wine.
Speaking of wine, unlike many other restaurants where you get an overwhelmingly long book of wines, at OPA we got a short, curated menu which offered a fantastic selection of white, red, rose and orange wines, as well as a handful of signature cocktails. We chose to go with an orange wine, which has been with great reason growing increasingly popular lately and I am tempted to try them at every restaurant which offers them.
The tasting menu is composed of 11 sharing dishes, with each dish highlighting a different seasonal vegetable, some of which are grown on the roof of the building. The menu was well rounded and presented interesting and intriguing bites. One of the menus prominent features was its ability to showcase that not only do vegetables not have to be boring, they can stand on their own as well rounded plates full of texture and taste and should not only be considered “side dish” material.
For potato lovers, like myself, there where a number of dishes centered on potatoes that were decidedly my favorite dishes of the evening. The first being a sourdough bread made out of potato, accompanied by a dip made of potato foam and potato “cheese”. Another noteworthy dish used fermented potato peels served layered with ice cream and jam made out of, you guessed it, more potatoes.
Another favorite dish for us was the turnip taco dish which was assembled by combining all of the ingredients inside of a lahoh, a spongy pancake-like bread popular in Yemen. This dish was so fun and the lahoh itself was delicious and gave the perfect wrap for the flavours and textures.
We ended the meal with two desserts, which were surprising and delicious, leaving you with just the right amount of being full and satisfied. The first dessert was an artichoke ice cream and caramel sauce which was so good I literally wanted to lick the plate.
The second dessert is called the Mindfuck Brownie, and it is indeed a well deserved name. The brownie itself was made with almond miso in place of coco and was accompanied by wheat ice cream and blueberry liqueur. This was a prefect closure for the evening since it was not too sweet and the brownie was moist, decadent and had the brownie flavour without being made from any of the traditional brownie ingredients.
I believe that OPA is set on a mission to show that plant based kitchens have a place in fine dining and this menu definitely proves it. I would run and order a place quickly since it recently nominated as one to watch according the MENA’s 50 best restaurants, a spot that is much deserved, in my opinion.