April, 2006
The original Badolina dairy restaurant/cafe in Gedera now has a sister restaurant on the waterfront in the northern port area of Tel-Aviv. Badolina Tel-Aviv takes its name and its menu from the restaurant in Gedera, but that is where the similarity ends. This restaurant is its own concept and its own atmosphere.
The atmosphere is the Mediterranean sea. You can sit on the outdoor boardwalk and take in the sea breeze from such close range, that if you were any closer and you would be swimming. The decor of the restaurant is sleek and modern punctuated with a handfull of classic Badolina items - like the huge chandelier and other lighting fixtures. There is seating outside, seating inside at booths and table seating in the middle of the restaurant. There is also a cozy nook inside the restaurant offering a bit of privacy from the rest of the room.
To get to Badolina turn off Hayarkon on to Yorde Hasira Street and enter the pay parking area. Park as close to the first traffic circle as you can - the one near the Ace. Then double-back to the boardwalk area along the sea, after the traffic circle. Badolina is the only restaurant on the strip with a teudat kashrut.
We
visited this restaurant for dinner on a weekday evening. The restaurant
was full, but there were tables available both inside and outside. Glancing around we noticed that most of the diners did not appear to have come to the restaurant for the kashrut. This bodes well for the restaurant experience and the food.
The Badolina one-page menu offers a nice selection of pastas, salads and specials for dinner. There are also breakfasts, which sound great for a sunny Tel-Aviv morning on the sea. I enjoyed a dish of vegetables cooked very nicely and my companion enjoyed one of the delcious pasta dishes with a great tomato sauce.
 Smadar’s daughter and business partner Gal, is a marvelous pastry chef.
Her scrumptious cakes are in a display case at the entrance to the restaurant. Though Gal is
a wizard at her craft, and we enjoyed those cakes much too much, the
other foods were equally enjoyable.
I
dare you to pass up Gal’s gorgeous cakes and pastries. You’ll never
be able to do this. We went with the recommended chocolate cheesecake,
a specialty at this restaurant. There are other wonderful cheesecakes
with caramel topping, Passion Fruit topping, a wonderful Mozart cake
and a mousse cake with 4 types of chocolate mousse.  Just wonderful!
We were especially charmed by the miniature cakes – one with the name
of the restaurant.
The atmosphere, the food and the service all contributed to a very pleasant
dining experience. We recommend this restaurant highly, as one of the
excellent dairy restaurants and bakeries out there, and it would be
worth the trip to this restaurant from other parts of the country.
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