Thanks to the Tizabi brothers – Lior and Liran – kosher eaters in Ra’anana and beyond have several very good restaurants from which to choose. The brothers, whose family originated in Iran, own Kazan, Delikazan, and Brenner, among other eateries.
I had never heard about Queen Lu, an Asian restaurant wedged between two others on Brenner Street, until our good friend travel guru Joey Freudmann told us about it.
Queen Lu is a fusion restaurant with separate Japanese and Thai menus. We decided, on a recent visit, that one of us would sample the Thai food and the other the Japanese.
My companion chose the Thai option, as we had eaten Japanese the week before. I didn’t at all mind having to eat the Japanese option, as I love Japanese cuisine. There is something pure about it in its basic simplicity.
My first course was a Wakame seaweed salad with roasted salmon (NIS 38). Knowing seaweed to be a very healthy and nutritious food made the dish particularly attractive, especially when a good helping of soy sauce was added.
Unwisely, I finished the entire serving and found it so filling that I wondered how I was going to cope with a main course.
My companion chose the green papaya salad (NIS 48): grated strips of papaya with tomatoes, green beans, and a lime/chili dressing which added great flavor.
For the main course, I decided to go for sushi, which I have always considered the perfect food, providing protein, vitamins, and carbohydrates in one perfect little edible package. These contained four different kinds of fish – salmon, tuna, mackerel, and white fish – and were very fine examples of the genre (NIS 72).
My only complaint was the “caviar” on the top – some kind of orange fish eggs which bore little resemblance to the real things. Yes, I know caviar isn’t kosher, but I’ve had better approximations than this.
My companion enjoyed a beef curry which was filled with chunks of tender meat, green beans, and courgettes (aka zucchini). It was very hot in both senses and not for the faint-hearted which, I’m happy to say, he is not (NIS 78).
Options for dessert
For dessert, diners take their leave of Asian cuisine and order sweets such as chocolate mousse and apple pie.
We chose the mousse, which came with a tart red berry sauce, a good contrast. We also tasted the kadaif – crispy wafers with large dollops of parve cream, something I avoid if possible, but offset with a good passion fruit puree (NIS 52).
After this very substantial repast, we sat at the table for a while as my companion sipped a strong espresso to round off what had been a very special meal.
- Queen Lu
- 6 Brenner St., Ra’anana
- Tel: (09) 979-0009
- Open: Sun-Thurs., noon to 11:30 p.m.; Fri., 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Sat., from one hour after Shabbat to 11.30 p.m.
- Kashrut: Ra’anana Rabbinate
The writer was a guest of the restaurant
