Eatalia: Israel's Italian food emporium - review

• Published date: 16 March 2024
• Author: DEBBIE LAMPERT/ELUNA.COM
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

The Israeli Eatalia is a beautifully designed two-story closed food emporium at the edge of the BSR building courtyard at Totzeret Ha'aretz Street in Petah Tikva. We were struck by the unique architecture and spiffy interior design. Eatalia surrounds you in good taste, both culinary and aesthetic

This is the only kashrut-certified Eatalia emporium in the world. The entire market ־ all the foods and all the imported goods ־ is under the kashrut supervision of the Petah Tikva Rabbinate.

Food, food, and more food.

Eatalia is two floors of Italian foods. On the entrance level, called The Piemonte for the region in Italy, find a coffee shop, a pizza stand, cheeses, and wine, to eat in or take home. Tables dividing the sections are laden with goods for sale, imported from Italy. There are olive oil, tomato sauces, pasta, pizza flour, and more, and, as a nod to the Totzeret Ha'aretz ("Product of Israel") Street address, some of our own Israeli wines.

Escalator up one floor to wine and dine at a group of Italian restaurants, some open now and others soon to open. For casual dining, there is the Joya D'Eatalia dairy restaurant, open from noon till the emporium closes at 11 p.m. The Pescara fish restaurant opens for evening dining from 6 p.m. And a fine dining meat restaurant will open soon.

Chef Cobi Bachar is the head chef and culinary director at Eatalia. All the foods and all the restaurants in the emporium are under his lead. As Eatalia is new, he is building the culinary concepts from the ground up. The chef is eminently qualified for this challenge, coming from Jerusalem's Mamilla Hotel, where he presided over all its restaurants.

JOYA IS a long-running, tried-and-true chain of classic dairy restaurants. Joya D'Eatalia is the first restaurant to open in Eatalia. Kashrut was not on the agenda of the original Joya branches, but in the last few years several, including this one, have opened with a kashrut certificate.

Joya offers a classic dairy Italian dining experience with all the dishes that you would expect on a dairy Italian menu. In the hands of Bachar, the dishes are all beautifully presented and have a unique and unexpected twist.

We started our meal with the Caesar salad, a green salad made of crispy light green lettuce leaves topped with croutons and sprinkled with cheese, accompanied by a hard-boiled egg (NIS 58). This classic Italian salad was dressed with anchovies, Worcestershire sauce, and other flavors finely blended, and was sprinkled with...