is a place of magic and love. A double love story, actually. The love-love type and the food-love kind. How Tim and Simona fell in love at their first dinner together, when Tim cooked up an exquisite meal full of flavours and fresh herbs. No, this is not a tacky Oprah post. This is me fervently telling you to go to Kitchen 151 and let yourself be conquered by their delicious mediterranean food. Because when two people do something they are passionate and honest about… it shows. Also, did I mention Tim reminds me of a better looking Woody Allen? Such a warm man, you need to meet him. Unfortunately I didn’t get the chance to meet Simona that day, as she was traveling through the markets of Jerusalem looking for new flavors and spices for the kitchen. I’ll be back soon to right that wrong!
Credit: Kitchen 151
At Kitchen 151 you’ll find tapas, soups, salads and hot dishes. Everything is so tasteful, fresh and genuine! It’s a crossroads of flavours. Israel meets the Middle East. Morocco meets Asia. When you learn that Tim is an Englishman born in Madagascar and Simona a Moroccan born in Israel, you understand a little better.
The place is on Chaussée de Wavre 145, also at crossroads between the European Quarter and Matongé. Small and cosy, you can choose your wine pitcher and even buy food to take away. How does half a kilo of hummus in your fridge sound? And if you get hooked up, like me, well you can even order catering from them! I have to try their gefilte fish someday. Word has it it’s a pure Geshmak!
Credit: Yassin Serghini, Martin de Gennes, Yelp
I went twice. The first time, I’ll admit the dishes took a tad too long to arrive. And we were famished! Especially since the delicious smell reigning in the place made us drool like hungry wolves. The second time, the food came a lot quicker, even though we had ordered nearly everything they serve! We had all the tapas and shared an “assiette mixte”. We had moooore than enough but it’s so yummy that we couldn’t stop!
The hummus is one of my favorite tapas and definitely the best I have ever tried. True story. The texture, the seasoning… I want their secret recipe!
The avocado hummus is also super nice. The chickpeas give avocado a stronger taste. And combined with the artisan pitta bread from Antwerp… they enhance each other. The bread alone is a true bliss. Rich enough but not too heavy. Super fluffy yet consistent. Words fail me, you need to try it!
The butternut-red oignon and pinenuts is one of their seasonal tapas variations and it’s a good one. I wonder what it would be like with sweet potatoes instead of butternut… could work too. The lentils-sweet potatoes salad was maybe my least favorite. But I’ll admit it comes in super handy in the fridge, as it lasts for almost a week, flavours getting more and more intense.
Dudu’s salad. Also in my top 3. It’s a super fresh salad with tomatoes, green peppers, olive oil, garlic and salt. Spicy and oh so good!
The Baba-ganoush is very nice, but one of the least “peppery” ones, so it’s a good balance to the other tapas. I was in a “spicy” mood that day so not so much my cup of tea.
The avocado-eggplant tartar on the other hand is to die for. Top 3 as well. The little pommegrenate seeds are a super nice touch!
The mixed plate was another wonderful surprise. We had tiny fish “burgers” which were delicious and lemony, molten zucchini pancakes and keftas. The salad had pistacchios and other seeds. Just my kind of greens. Wow. S E R I O U S L Y.
So don’t miss out on this glorious little place where Ottolenghi’s cuisine is honoured gracefully and each bite becomes a travel. Plus their prices are really reasonable! Especially given the quality of their ingredients. They’ll soon hold cooking classes, so stay tuned on Facebook. I’m thinking of trying their Saturday brunch soon. Care to join me?
Anita
Kitchen 151, Chaussée de Wavre 145, T: +32 2 512 49 29, Open Tuesday to Saturday from 11.30-14.00 and 18.00-22.00.
