Review: Four One Six Restaurant
416 is one of my favorite vegan restaurants in Tel Aviv and beyond. I love the extra detail they put into their dishes, which all have a special flare. Here, you’ll find the kind of unique touches that only a vegan chef could be guilty of.
You see, most vegans weren’t born vegans (although in a decade or two, they will be). And this is a place catering to those of us who loved the taste of meat, and our non-vegan friends who we’re trying to impress into realizing maybe they could give up meat after all when they realize the replacement is just as tasty. This is a restaurant that will make you say, “Oh my God! It tastes just like the real thing!”
Yet though the tacos, shawarma, schnitzel, and more are all perfectly textured and meticulously prepped, vegans will also love the fact that it simply doesn’t feel like you’re eating meat.
How do they do it? Well, first of all, it’s all about the place. Diners all around you, happy, radiant, with conversation flowing, all here to celebrate life. And second, pure culinary wizardry. Just when you’re thinking it’s almost like the real thing, you bite in and realize it’s so much more.
The kitchen team at 416 seem to know exactly what to add to each dish to throw the balance off and defy expectations with unexpected combinations to delight the senses: barbeque with a plate of hummus rather than rice or potatoes, schnitzel with a lentil polenta, shawarma served in a huge skillet with mushrooms that’s so perfect it needs no sides or bread.
At the end of a delicious meal, you lean back feeling not like you’ve eaten an alternative to the real thing — but like you’ve just discovered the real thing for the very first time. And that’s what keeps me coming back for more.
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