Sun Café: A delicious meal in rustic Israel - review

There’s nothing quite like a good lunch out to make one forget, if only temporarily, the events we are all experiencing. (I sound like Basil Fawlty – “don’t mention the war!”)

Looking around at our fellow diners at the Sun Café in Bazra, which we visited last week, there are the usual suspects – ladies who lunch, older couples with time on their hands, families – all here to savor the well-known dairy menu of a long-established eatery in the heart of rustic Israel.

It’s a very hot day but some intrepid souls are still sitting outside in the covered garden. We chose the indoor air-conditioned area and sat down at a table next to the window to enjoy the garden without the heat. Shiri, our lovely waitress, found us English menus and we made our choices.

The sun shines in Bazra

We shared our starter, a very interesting dish of spinach and cheese pancakes served on tzatziki with chopped tomato salsa (NIS 62). Although clearly fried, they were not oily and tasted not only very good but somehow healthy. Spinach always has that effect – call it the Popeye syndrome.

Once we had assuaged the hunger pangs, we waited in anticipation for our main courses, which were not long in arriving. I had chosen a mushroom quiche, which turned out to be a real delicacy – crispy, short crust pastry filled with coarsely chopped onions and mushroom in a cream sauce (NIS 74).

My companion has a thing about labane – a sour, white cheese – something I never eat, and his choice was this with hot focaccia, pesto, tomato, and olive dips and a side salad (NIS 39). The bread, which I also indulged in as it was so good, was flavored with zatar (Yemenite herbs) and very fresh. The side salad was fairly prosaic, but acceptable.

Finally, Shiri reappeared to recite the dessert menu, which seems to be the thing these days. We chose the lemon pie, an inspired decision as it was so good, sweet but tarty and smothered in fresh cream (NIS 46).

The finale to this excellent meal came in the shape of two very good cappuccinos. The sun definitely shines in Bazra.

• Sun Café
• 38 Bazra
• (09) 830-2311
• Hours: Sunday-Thursday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m; Friday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m; Saturday – closed.
• Kashrut – Hod Hasharon Rabbinate

The writer was a guest of the restaurant.