A few years ago, a season of chef games ended, in which one of the finalists was Nofar Zohar. She was one of the interesting contenders of the season and it was clear that delicious food is something she knows how to prepare. Moments after the finale, I heard that she was the chef of a new Vietnamese restaurant Ca Phe HANOI.
Me and Vietnam have a very clear love story. A trip after the military's service, in wintery and snowy weather, of 3 girls who spend $ 10 a day and enjoy in a local restaurant with a dreamy Vietnamese spring roll and comforting vegetable soup. Definitely one of the places I enjoyed the most in my life, and a place where the food was very intriguing and delicious. So yes, this combination of the hot chef and the type of food chosen excited me a lot.
For some reason, despite all the excitement, I have not come to the restaurant in the years since it opened. During these years Nofar Zohar had already left the restaurant and I was left waiting for the day when I would decide to come anyway to taste a little of the East and the food I miss so much.
The restaurant is a kosher restaurant, located in a relatively large place in Tel Aviv. The design is very suitable for the concept as well as the vibes, and overall looks very promising. The prices are relatively reasonable which is nice, and the menu includes dishes that are relatively popular that can connect to many audiences, which is even very nice.
We started with the first 3. Nemeza chicken (39 NIS), fried rice sheet stuffed with chopped chicken, carrots, rice noodles and mushrooms, served with lettuce, mint, coriander and chili and lime sauce. 3 nice roll units, less crispy than I expected, they probably soaked them too much in oil that didn’t boil enough, or it just waited a long time outside. One roll was enough for me to continue with the next dish. #yammmmm
We continued with Beef Ban (49 NIS). 2 units which was very nice to share. Delicious as expected, very light, come in a reasonable size and a great first dish. A dish with beloved and familiar flavors, the ban was soft and the beef was well made. Yam. #yammmmm
Papaya Salad (49 NIS) with banana flower, Thai bean, hijiki seaweed and peanuts in chili sauce, garlic, fish sauce and lime. Here too, to my delight, there were no mistakes. There is no love like papaya salad, and it really was excellent, with precise spiciness, a classic structure and a real taste. #yammmmm
We moved on to main courses, with Dolev as a special guest show, who ate a Ban Mi Bread (a kind of baguette), with beef, aioli, mint, pickles, coriander and peanuts, alongside spiced French fries. He says that although the baguette was fresh and tasty, he is not a big fan of beef in bread, unless it is really good and tasty, and in this case the meat was nice. The dish itself also had too many peanuts, so that too effected on the taste. In general this is a very large dish and eat it after first dishes is a piece of challenge. #yammmmm
I ordered Egg Noodles with Tataki Tuna (98 NIS) and artichoke, and a sort of tempura crackling sprinkled on top. If you have already ordered the dish then it is very important to mix everything well, so at least the noodles will blend in with the tempura crackers, which were delicious, and get some interesting contrasts. The was that the tuna didn't go so well with the artichoke for me, which is surprising, because those are two things I really, really like. But the world is cruel and it just did not work together. A dish that would have sounded very intriguing and interesting but less realized the potential. #yammmmm
For dessert we ordered a kind of Puff Pastry stuffed with a kind of whipped cream, crackers on top and a chocolate sauce that did not manage to spread over the whole thing. The dough was problematic, we were not so able to cut a piece out of it, and it generally felt like we were getting a very simple dessert with no purpose or desire to turn into something particularly delicious. #yammmmm
It's a #yammmmm