The David in question is David Davidi, who opened his meat restaurant Shulchan David just under a year ago, last June. It’s situated on the promenade with an uninterrupted view of the golden sands and the distant sea that makes Netanya one of the most attractive and desirable places to live in Israel.
Shulchan David is a very popular eatery, offering inexpensive and excellent food in a friendly, informal setting.
We visited recently and were impressed with the variety and quality of the food we sampled. The staff are all young, enthusiastic, and were bent on making our visit as enjoyable as possible.
What's on the menu at Shulchan David?
We began our meal with that peculiarly Israeli starter of a large number of small salads, with fluffy hot pitas on the side.
I counted 15 salads, which included many different vegetable variations. Practically every vegetable known to man had been recruited into this feast of salads: carrots in two versions, beetroot, mushrooms, corn, eggplant, cabbage, potato, and chick peas – all served in small disposable bowls, providing a first course that felt both healthy and appetizing.
Without going into too much detail, I can confidently say that all the salads were fresh, flavorful, and made for a great starter. Cumin seemed to be the spice of favor, as it often is in Mediterranean food, but nothing was too spicy.
The creamy tehina was made from scratch, the egg salad was flavored with scallions and mayo, and there were cooked mushrooms, tomato salsa, purple cabbage, and lemony eggplant “caviar” (NIS 26 if part of the meal; NIS 52 if that’s all you eat).
Two other starters appeared: a sizzling pan of sautéed mushrooms, and an artistically presented roasted eggplant topped with the homemade tehina. Both dishes were delicious and difficult to resist, in spite of the fact that we still had not had our main course.
Fortunately, we had chosen skewers rather than some of the more serious dishes on the menu like steak and lamb. There were three skewers: chicken livers (NIS 39), pargit (NIS 42), and mallard (duck – NIS 57). They were all perfectly cooked – not dry but very succulent and well flavored.
My only complaint is that the side dish of roasted vegetables, consisting of eggplant, zucchini, onion, and two kinds of peppers, was too oily.
The restaurant has a good selection of wines, but as the overindulgence of Passover was still very fresh, we declined alcohol and opted for soda and lemonade (NIS 14).
We also passed on desserts – Malabi, chocolate mousse, and crème brulée (each NIS 52). After the amount of food we had consumed, a sweet course just wasn’t in the cards.
Fortunately, we had walked over from our nearby apartment and had the advantage of walking home to offset the large amount of food.
We very much enjoyed our experience at Shulchan David and can recommend a visit with total confidence. Great for families with children, too.
- Shulchan David
- 10 Sderot Ben-Ami
- Netanya
- Phone: 052-744-4904
- Sunday to Thursday, noon – 11:30 p.m.
- Friday: Closed
- Saturday: after Shabbat until 11:30 p.m.
- Kashrut: Netanya Rabbinate
The writer was a guest of the restaurant.
