Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Vegan Adventrures: Seitan Schnitzel Sandwich

Experimenting with new foods and with my own perceptions can often be fun.
I'm not quite the adventurous type - but I have my moments.
If you add that desire for new flavors to the fact that meat started to gross me out (not all the time, but I lack the desire that I used to have for it, in general) you'll see that it's a good time for a new type of sandwich.
So, long story short: this happened:

seitan schnitzel, vegan cream cheese spread, tomato, lettuce


Whole wheat bun, vegan cream cheese spread, lettuce, tomato, mustard, seitan patty - crumbed and deep-fried.
It wasn't bad, it was good even.
Since the menu read "cheese" I was expecting a sheet of cheese substitute, but it actually was cream cheese or somewhat like a more liquid cottage cheese.

The seitan is unlike your ordinary chicken schnitzel. I guess that when you add the right spices and throw in that breadcrumb batter - most things will (and do) taste good.

To me that was in some way superior to actual chicken: there are no bones, no cartilage, no blood, fat or red dots, no dark meat and so on.
There are no dead animals being eaten thus less suffering, pollution, all that jazz. Your typical reasons for veganism. 

I'm not preaching, not as long as I'm eating corned beef sandwiches and writing blog posts about it - but it's a good alternative and a good option in general, and for the equivalent of about $7US.
Not bad.

The place is called Buddha Burgers, you might want to give them a shot.

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Habima Neighborhood Café | Round three

So I took a day off; always a good idea.
I made (begged) my girlfriend come with me to a David Claerbout exhibition, and in return she made me go to Habima Neighborhood Café which is nearby - can't say I complained much as I wanted to explore it further.


tel aviv | sandwiches


This tiny place is a one story structure, four walls with several windows and one display wall with lots and lots of sandwiches.
Sliced hard-boiled egg, asparagus and arugula; herring, sour cream and green onions, egg salad, truffles and spinach, grilled cheese with tomatoes and butter, grilled cheese with artichoke, grilled emmental cheese with ham, butter and tomato slices; several cold cut variations and a wonderful combo of spicy turkey and cheese with sun dried tomato paste along with fresh pesto.
Also, don't forget the jambon sandwich I covered earlier.


turkey, cheese, pesto, tomato paste


The missus ordered  the hot turkey and cheese (with pesto and sun-dried tomato paste). It was pretty good, I know cos I helped her finish it. The tomato paste was rich and very sweet, the pesto was very fresh and did not lose its flavors after the heating of the sandwich. The stringy cheese and the moist turkey were a great combo.


grilled cheese, tomato, ham, olives, butter


My grilled cheese with ham and and butter (and a few tomato slices) wasn't that bad either, but it lacked some depth.
The side of olives wasn't much help as I hate most olives (too bitter) and these weren't exceptional.
The fact they use string and paper to prevent the sandwich from falling apart and later to protect it while grilling it was a nice touch to both preparation and decoration.


grilled cheese, ham, tomato, butter


All and all it was really a great experience; such mad variety of sandwiches is always appreciated and I was told that they're experimenting with more new sandwiches, depending on the ingredients, mood and day of the week. Such an approach can't be bad.


Hot pretzels -  Habima Neighborhood Café


Also great: hot pretzels.
We took several to go - we had a long day ahead of us (we actually took several bites when they were still warm - delicious!).

Monday, March 18, 2013

Tel-Aviv's Sandwich Bonanza | Habima Neighborhood Café

Sometimes you just feel like you've hit the jackpot.
Continuing my coverage of Habima Neighborhood Café, I tried one of their grilled cheese sandwiches.
This variation is quite simple, but extremely delicious.
Just look at it!


Grilled Cheese Sandwich | pesto, cheese, tomatoes, pine nuts


Two huge slices of white bread, fresh pesto with whole pine-nuts thrown in the mix,  cheese and thinly sliced tomato halves. Simplistic yet amazingly interesting to taste.

Since it's really is huge, one can order only half, for what at that point seemed like a reasonable price but now I can't recall. 

The only negative note from this visit was that they were out of carbonated water.
They have many more sandwiches to cover so I will return for them, but for this one as well as it is well worth it.

Monday, March 11, 2013

Corned Beef Heaven: Tal Bagels and a Side of Fries

This is going to be a short one.
The Missus brought me a differ in the form of this sandwich:
  • Poppy seed bagel (don't argue, this is a bagel, they bake them thick and with almost no hole so stuff won't fall out).
  • Spicy mustard.
  • Corned beef.
  • Pickles.
  • Lettuce.
  • Fresh cucumber slices.
  • Tomato.
  • Grilled eggplant.
  • Deep fried eggplant slices.
  • More spicy mustard.
There were fries.
That's all you need to know.



poppy bagel, corned beef, spicy mustard, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, pickles, tomato, grilled eggplant



poppy bagel, corned beef, spicy mustard, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, pickles, tomato, grilled eggplant



lots of french fries

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Habima Neighborhood Café

I'm not a big fan of coffee shops, nor am I a fan of hipster infested places, venues packed with people aching  to be seen or just trendy spots.
Eating is something I rather do without people staring at me and talking loudly around me.
I also dislike long queues. 

All of the above are a great reason to avoid Habima Neighborhood Café, but they have so much amazing sandwiches that I just couldn't.
The sandwiches change on a daily basis, but follow a similar line. There are "bite" sizes (cheap and still big enough), grilled cheese sandwiches with meats and vegetables, all sorts of cheeses and cuts, salads and other interesting twists.
The ingredients vary depending on availability and creativity of the staff.

I'll try to cover as much sandwiches as possible, but until then, here's a starter:


jambon, cheese, mustard, mayo and arugula
.Jambon, cheese, mustard, mayo and arugula

I took my chance with this one since I'm not a big fan of mayo, it was really worth it.
The sandwich was on the cold side (Cafe Habima have three temperature levels: fresh, cold and grilled), but still, the flavors were amazing and the temperature was just right.

The cheese was of a Swiss variety (they usually indicate what cheese is used but not this time), and the jambon was crispy and flavorful. Fresh leaves and just enough spreads to keep the sandwich moist but to not wet the sweet bun. A great experience.

A moment of honesty: I took the sandwich and ate it on a very remote bench.
Amazing sandwiches are still not a good enough reason for me to suffer while eating.

More to follow soon.

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