Finally, it is possible to fulfill the dream of a real beach restaurant

Sometimes it seems to me that the culinary and tourist dream of every civilized person is to sit in front of the sea, drink something, and eat fried fish. Generations of Israelis have grown up with a justified sense of frustration that there are no such places in the country. There are places on the water or facing the water, but it is always 'next to' and 'sort of': Helena in Caesarea is wonderful but a bit too upscale; at Abu Christo in Acre, the balcony hangs over the waves, but that's where it ends; and the new Chaculi is located on a concrete balcony, where the sea feels a bit too far away. The only restaurant that did it to the end was Manta Ray on the beach in Tel Aviv, and even it only recently escaped the threat of closure.

And then came the new Melah Mayim on Gordon Beach in Tel Aviv, which rose on the ruins of a huge branch of Greco. The restaurant is truly huge, and the water is very close, with only the concrete path of the promenade separating the restaurant from the beach itself. The menu of Melah Mayim is signed by young chefs Tal Sohami and Elad Dagan, remembered fondly from the Mansura restaurant. Here they acted as consultants, but these are still very serious chefs. The owner is Nevo Doctory, the owner of the Tel Aviv beach institution Banana Beach.

The soundtrack of Melah Mayim consists of the best Israeli classics, and the menu is the most Israeli there is. Yes, including hummus and falafel, and it is charming. We started with a platter of salads, called 'opening the table': tahini, spicy carrot salad, pickled eggplant salad, a kind of good matbucha, fried zucchini salad, pickles with amba, cauliflower in tahini, and tabbouleh with quinoa. Two warm pitas in a paper bag completed the picture. The sea bass carpaccio was also standard—everything is very routine, though they could have cut the fish a little less thin.

The main courses were already a different opera:

The lamb kebab was excellent of the excellent. Meaty, juicy, seasoned as it should be, and not small at all. It was accompanied by thin slices of pickled onion in a huge amount, tahini, chimichurri, and roasted spicy green pepper. Abnormal fun.

The dish of sardines from the Kinneret, which turned out to be Levantine sardines, was truly huge in size. The small fish were both crispy and juicy, and above all, insanely delicious. A bite of fish, a sip of ouzo—what more could one ask for? The chips were excellent and plentiful. For dessert, we had a slice of excellent pistachio pound cake with a monstrously sized scoop of vanilla ice cream. Two espressos, and we got up like new, stuffed from too much food. Great and surprising fun on the seashore in the most unexpected place in the world. Maybe there is still a future for restaurants on the sea?

Melah Mayim, Shlomo Lahat Promenade 17, Tel Aviv.