Limani, Caesarea/Limani
From a distance, Limani looks like a fortress, and that feeling doesn't change a millimeter when you get closer to it. After all, Caesarea has been doing this to you for years - emitting a glorious citrus of the past and real memories of the days when real giants walked among us.
And the entrance to it from the highway mediates these feelings well, lifts them up, and lifts them up. You separate from the traffic and get on the interchange, drive west and let the car slow down autonomously. The window opens almost by itself, the sailor speaks, and all the luxury that this settlement radiates in the routine is mixed with the sea breeze, and melts into the collective common denominator - always. Water, sky, air. and a fortress that supplies them, a home port.
Water, sky, air. Limani
The local legend says that Assaf Tzong arrived more than a decade ago at the westernmost point on the land of Caesarea, received shards of water and foam waves forming directly in front of him, and fell in love.
It is likely that the reality was a little less romantic than the story of this act, but it is more likely that it was not very far from it. Try to get here and not start speaking in a more sarcastic language, imagining all the building permits and real estate brokers that were Herod's daily environment, and wondering out loud - the sound of a stage and plays - how many love stories came out of the evening of culture in the nearby amphitheater.
The answers to all of these, as As anyone who once stood with their backs to the sea, just the opposite of Meir Ariel, they are simple, yet very popular and sharp. Here, just like Asaf, they come to fall in love again.
All these points, and no matter what day and time you arrive, magnetize a gaze, slow down a pulse, upgrade a day
Limani knows all this, and uses the topography to show you that she does. The stones and drops are here to serve the moment, as are the chairs and tables. There is no point in designing for millions when there is a multi-million landscape in front of your eyes, but there is no intention to belittle you either, God forbid.
In this place, there are four different spaces, each of which is a whole world of wave occurrence - a closed and intimate inner room, for days when the rain (or sun) hits, a small casual wooden bar that looks north, an open terrace on the water and also a great narrow strip of tongue Land and pier, which is the most Greek there is, including the salty drops.
All these points, and no matter what day and time you arrive, magnetize your gaze, slow your pulse, upgrade your day.
A whole world of wave occurrence. Limani/Walla! system, Yaniv Granot
An opening table. Limani/Walla! system, Yaniv Granot
The prices are surprising, and the sizes are generous, and they are even more surprising and more generous when you remember how much it costs what grows along Israel's very expensive coastal strip
The great wisdom of Limani (port in Greek, of course) is not to dance cynically on the landscape and not to justify clichés about tourist traps. Not to be shriveled or tight. on the contrary. The prices are surprising, and the sizes are generous, and they are even more surprising and more generous when you remember how much it costs for what grows along Israel's very expensive coastal strip.
The hospitality, accordingly, is reminiscent of similar places abroad, from the United States to Italy. No one here pretends to be "rustic" and "small", but the service is warm, yes, and at some point - there was alcohol involved, I admit - you Kind of starting to wonder where you left your passport. Those few seconds, isolated and limited in time, are worth the whole trip, and the whole story, aren't they?
There are all the immediate suspects here, in an identification order that lines up before your eyes, and the only crime he's suspected of is, well, murdering Diet
Obeidah Amara's menu, as expected and appropriate, begins with starters that naturally pave the way for a table. Plump and warm focaccia with tomato salsa, labneh and dua (NIS 29), fried spanakopita filled with Bulgarian cheese and chard (NIS 48), beetroot and eggplant, thick tzatziki and skordalia (NIS 28) - all the immediate suspects, in an identification order that aligns before your eyes, and the crime The only one he's suspected of is, well, diet murder.
With these there is also a fish ceviche (NIS 63) excellent in its taste, a bowl of fried squid and shrimp with caper butter, a proper Greek salad, a spicy plate that cannot be without, and also a particularly fun exit in the form of a warm sea salad, with fried fish cubes, chard, onion, Tomatoes and tahini. A bit of Israel, a bit of Greece, a bit of Italy and a bit of Spain, and here is the Mediterranean that we were told about, right in front of our eyes.
And sometimes there is also a tapas menu, which is "small" dishes at small prices, with the quotation marks in place exactly because of what you think
The main ones continue the line in width - heart and supply - although at this stage you are a little skeptical about your capacity.
Here there is a roasted whole lebark, for example, bream fillet with chickpeas and yogurt, shrimp gnocchi in a creamy mustard sauce (114 NIS), a "Sea Casserole" rich in mussels, calamari and shrimp heads, a seafood platter for one person or a couple (114-232 NIS) and also matches More of pasta and sea stars - from sea bream and shrimp risotto to salmon pappardella, a steak for those who insist on meat now, chickpea soufflés and mosca that melts eggplant, ragout, béchamel and mozzarella.
And sometimes there is also a tapas menu, which is "small" dishes at small prices, with the quotation marks in place exactly because of what you think. Not small at all, for a price that is indeed small. Fish bruschetta (NIS 29) or pan con tomato (NIS 27), octopus salad with tomatoes and potato (NIS 42) or fish cigar (NIS 37). An off-menu, and intra-abdominal celebration.
Limani plays well between the seasons and between the hours, between the days and between the times. She knows how to time cold cocktails for orange sunsets and pitchers of hot sangria for a cool breeze. It is both that and it is not a compromise from here and a compromise from there, but the much sought after, and very unusual, sense of security of getting in the car and driving, and when you arrive everything will be fine.
In front of the water, and in front of the wind, on whatever chair you choose to sit, these feelings only get stronger. Maybe it's the history of the place, maybe it's the hysteria of the place. And maybe it's the fortress.
Limani, Caesarea Port, 04-6100022