Abbalé Telavivian: Head up to Aventura!
As a Miami Beach resident, Abbalé Telavivian (aka Abba or Abbalé) has been our go to for fresh Israeli/ Mediterranean cuisine since first opening in March of 2021.
Set in a cozy bungalow with an outdoor garden filled with bougainvillea, the fresh dishes, bright colors and exceptional service have always been a welcome relief from the craziness of South Beach clubstaurants.
Chef/Owner Sam Gorenstein and his partners have ventured north to Aventura to open a second Abbalé and I finally made my way up there for lunch with my niece.
The Aventura location captures all of the coziness and charm of South Beach location but on a much larger scale. In addition to the outdoor garden, there is a full dining room with olive trees, bistro chairs and lots of light wood touches, an open kitchen and full bar area with seating.
And plenty of free parking…something seriously lacking in South Beach.
The Abbalé Aventura menu mirrors the South Beach one, so we began our lunch with a selection of Salatim dips; babaganoush, muhammara and roasted onion tahini. It came with a warm freshly baked pita. We “ripped and dipped” to our hearts content,
We ordered the Moroccan Mint Iced tea as our lunch beverage, but there are a creative cocktail list and well curated wine and beer list.
A surprise appetizer is the crunchy cauliflower dusted with tamarind, and the Moroccan cigars, stuffed with spiced lamb, pistachio and honey. Both delicious and highly recommended.
Don’t pass on the opportunity to order the puffy Za’atar flatbread, which is anything but flat and is perfect to rip apart and nibble on throughout the meal.
For our main lunch dishes, we settled on the Falafel pita sandwich which came as two overstuffed halves with shuk salad, hummus, pickled cabbage, tahini, amba, in a fire baked pita, with side of abbalé’s pickles and crispy fries.
The Spiced Lamb Kefta skewered Shashlik came with charred laffa, pickled cabbage, cherry tomato, red onion, fresh herbs, toum, and lemon. Colorful and delicious, it was easily shared.
We added a side order of Fire Roasted Carrots over labneh, with date honey, ras el hanout, and toasted almonds, and a fresh Shuk salad of chopped fresh tomatoes, cucumber and peppers.
With no room for dessert, we were nevertheless tempted by the menu offering varied options including Baklava, Labneh Cheesecake and a Dark Chocolate Brownie, but our server insisted we try the Tahini SoftServe which was refreshing and topped with date honey, halvah, olive oil and Maldon salt.
It was a sweet and savory finish to a lovely lunch with my niece, Chrissie!
Lucky for us, there are now two locations to enjoy Abbalé Telavivian. Pick one and go!
2956 NE 199th St.
Aventura, FL
239 402 6269
864 Commerce St.
Miami Beach, FL
239 933 6422