As I sat sipping Prosecco in Tish kosher restaurant on a Sunday in London, we discussed kosher restaurants worldwide.
Tish kosher restaurant, Belsize Park, London, England; interior. Photo by Angela Lansbury. copyright.
You can find Jewish and Israeli style salads and fast food such as bagels and full meals in the UK and worldwide on a Saturday, often run by non-Jews, such as Christian Greeks, or Arab-Israeli partnerships; but the restaurant it won't have the kosher certification because the authorities such as the London Beth Din won't grant the certificate unless the restaurant closes on the Sabbath. So I thought.
Tish Restaurant, a swish Kosher restaurant in Belsize Park, North West London, near the centre, just near Belsize Park tube station, is open on Saturday, the Jewish sabbath. Now, that is new, a real novelty.
But they won't handle money on the sabbath. So how do you pay?
Like many Jewish organizations which provide Friday night meals, or all weekend meals at conferences and hotels around the world, the method is simple. You pay in advance.
Travelling Jews often opt for kosher meals at private restaurants run by Chabad on Friday nights and Saturday lunch. They operate worldwide.
I have also had Friday night meals at a synagogue in Singapore. In Singapore security is tight. You have to book in advance, pay in advance, prove who you are and why you want to eat there. They have a deli shop attached so you can buy kosher food for and before the Sabbath. Singapore also has an Israeli restaurant, which seems to open one year, close the next open again. This yo-yo of open and closed, now you see it, now you don't, has been going on for years. London offers a good choice of kosher restaurants. You can be sure of several.
But what of real restaurants, in the high street, (which Americans call main street), in London, England, kosher, for you or your Orthodox friends who only eat kosher, or just for the novelty, open to the public?
In London's Golders Green you watch the hours of daylight which vary a lot according to the time of year. In Tish, like other restaurants in Golders Green, Orthodox Jews who don't travel on the Sabbath, can eat early on Friday night when it is light until about nine. By starting a meal at seven, finishing by eight, on a Friday night in summer, the diner can still travel and be home before the sabbath when you cannot travel.
But what about those who want to eat at Tish with pre-payment? Yes, I have heard of pre-payment, which works well for a set meal, a seasonal meal such as a Seder night (Passover) at a synagogue, a wedding or special occasion mass meal. But how does it work for individuals or small families choosing from an a la carte menu?
You can look at their menu online, order the main meal in advance, and pay in advance. If you have given them your credit card details, and you are a regular, then they can adjust and add any extras you order, such as drinks, later, like checking out of a hotel or hiring a car.
A Jewish restaurant open on Saturday is a real novelty in London.
Drinks
Choice of drinks by the bottle and glass is very good. I like sweet wines and had a choice of Prosecco or rose wine and a dessert wine and chose to start with the Prosecco. (We also asked for tap water.)
My companions, who included my husband who is a wine educator and writer, chose red wines by the glass, a Chardonnay (grape), a Cabernet Sauvignon (grape) and a sweet Riesling. Quite a choice.
He had already read the wine menu on line, worked out which wines were much more expensive than the shop price for a bottle, and which were unusual or good value. Wines which aren't sold retail are chosen by restaurants so you cannot compare prices. But with very famous wines, you can compare.
To find the price of any wine use Wine Search. It might give you the price in another country but that is a good enough guide.
Drink choices also included cocktails, mocktails (non alcoholic cocktails but presented like cocktails with colours), juices and coffees.
Now, back to the story of Tish, nowadays in London, England. Tish is Hebrew for table. the tables are very elegant, with 18/10 top quality, hard-wearing cutlery, gleaming in elegant shapes. The plates are a delight, the dessert plate a rounded triangle which reminded me of a pear or pearl.
The manager was sitting nearby at the central bar. He saw or heard immediately we wanted something. The air conditioning was on full (with a fault soon to be fixed) and when one of our member said he was too cold the manager brought us pretty fringed light weight blankets in pink for her and blue for him to act as large shawls and keep as warm.
I noticed that there were piles of dark blue kippot (skullcaps worn during meals by men, at all times by religious Jews). They are provided for use by customers on the Sabbath, especially if sitting near a rabbi to fit in.
Now, what of the food and prices?
Prices
Prices are high. You can see non-Jews stopping to look at the menu, their eyes widening in surprise at the prices. If you want a cheaper meal in trendy historic Hampstead, across the road is a Spanish restaurant whose outside board offers two courses for ten pounds and three courses for twelve. Of course you might be paying extra for coffee, drinks, service. Or there's always the old pubs.
But we were with somebody who eats kosher who wanted to show us Tish. we bypassed the outdoor terrace at the front for the interior.
We went without a starter and saved our money and our stomachs for dessert.
Fantastic Food
Food is excellent.
One of our group had the hamburger which she had had twice before, a huge hamburger, three times the thickness of fas food outlets.
Another choice was chicken. So large I don't now how the man who ordered it managed to eat it. But he did. With a little help. We played 'Jewish ping-pong' which means sharing food.
I had the salt beef sandwich.
Salt beef at Tish. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.
Latkes with herbs at Tish. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.
We shared an extra, a latke, or shredded potato pancake, a bit like the Swiss rosti or the American potato pancake hash brownies. It was totally unlike the fried potato pancakes at B & K, my favourite salt beef bar in Edgware and Hatch End. Tish adds herbs.
B & K is more basic. Big portions and affordable prices. Tish is grander for a special meal.
Herby Highlight - herby potato latkes
My salt beef disappeared fast. I did not remember it. What I remember well was the latkes. Tish restaurant does diet-friendly small potato pancakes. I thought it was odd to serve three pancakes, when they knew we were sharing, to table of four diners. However, with two on a diet, halving one of the potato pancakes was no problem.
Leftovers Wrapped
We even had a spare leftover potato pancake and asked for our leftovers to be wrapped up. No problem. The leftovers were presented fast, in a proper foil tray, not just wrapping paper, in a pretty pink paper tote bag with the restaurant name, Tish.
Highlight - Dessert
The finale was another high point. We shared lokshen pudding. At B & K the lokshen pudding is flavoured with lemon and cinnamon, visible strands of noodles caked together, large and lovely and solid, enough for two meals or two eaters or one overweight always hungry person. Here at Tish the dessert was more dainty and delicate, more like a bread pudding, with a crunch of sugar. Delightful. Again, just the right size. Enough to fill you, and feel satisfied, yet not so much food that you felt over full.
Tish Bar and Restaurant in London, England. The dessert of lokshen pudding with ice cream on the side. Photo by Angela Lansbury Copyright.
Coffee With Milk But Without Cow's Milk
We ended our meal with coffee. A choice of several types, single or double espresso and cappuccino. The three things to remember about kosher food, in addition to the certification and license, are:
1 No pork, nor lard (pig fat)
2 No shellfish
3 No milk served with a meat meal.
Not mixing milk and meat means that your milk with coffee in many simple restaurants would just be a basic non-diary creamy in a sachet. But this is a gourmet restaurant. You can choose from soya milk, almond milk and other types of milk. I tried the almond milk. I could not taste almond, but the coffee tasted good, and I am not easy to please because I don't take sugar but often find coffee, especially espresso, is too bitter.
Toilets
Toilets at Tish bar and Restaurant. Gleaming gold. Photo by Angela Lansbury. copyright.
Finally, toilets. Yes, perfection. All gleaming gold. I don't know if it was gold plated of gilt. They have been open about a year and everything is still in pristine condition. Go there now to enjoy it at it's brand new best.
So, full marks all around for the Tish restaurant. Belsize Park. London. England. UK.
We went for a birthday meal and were treated by somebody else who gave us a meal instead of a present, and we paid for the wines. What a good memory.
Shabbat Booking
I just checked on their website for summer 2019. It said they have a prix fixe, which includes several choices, about three or more for each course. You have to book by the Wednesday before.
Tish Bar and Restaurant
196 Haverstock Hill
London NW3 2AG
eat@tish.london
@tish_London
www.tish.london
Useful Websites For Travellers & Diners
Restaurant & Reviews
https://tish.london/
https://tish.london/uploads/2019/06/Shabbat_Summer-Menu-1.pdf
https://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Restaurant_Review-g186338-d14918967-Reviews-Tish_Bar_Restaurant-London_England.html
Travel To The UK /Israel/ America / Bulgaria
singaporeair.com
About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. See the next post on Hampstead and Belsize Park.
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