Dosa Bar. Healthy Power Food

February 2024
A foodie friend of mine likes to say that all cultures have the same foods. They just call them by different names. Dim sum, for example, is Chinese krepelach seasoned for the geography. In that case, Dosa would be the Indian equivalent of the French crepe, flavored with the spices of India rather than the tastes of central Europe. Popular meal in the south of India might consists of a dosa - a pancake-like base for a plethora of cooked vegetable dishes and spreads.

Don't tell me, I said to Mickey, the congenial owner and manager of the restaurant. You went to India after the army and you came back to Israel to make Indian foods. No, that would be my girlfriend, he replied. She returned from India and learned to prepare dosa in her backyard. Mickey himself is a natural and health food enthusiast. They put the increasingly popular dosa together with the natural food concept and seven years ago opened Dosa Bar.

This is a boho restaurant in the heart of Tel Aviv reminiscent of a shuk eatery. The restaurant is mostly kitchen and food prep area with a small number of rustic tables and bar seating facing the street. In the summer tables spill out on to the sidewalk, Tel Aviv style. In winter the seating area is enclosed. The restaurant has a young trendy feel that is different and fun.

Get ready for some unique and pleasant flavors. All the foods at Dosa Bar are legume and vegetable based and parve. No dairy and no meat. Foods contain the good stuff like black eye peas, cashew nuts. coconut, herbs, carrots, etc. The dishes are gluten free and no sugar is added. You will be surprised at how delicious totally parve foods can be. And this is before their amazing desserts.

Readers of our write ups will recall that my companion loves soup. And on the cold wintery day that we visited this restaurant, he went straight for the soup.
No need, said Mickey. Our dosas come with soup. Ok. That's a new one for me.

And what will you have in your dosa?
I'll need some help navigating the menu. Nothing too spicy for me, but no limitations for my companion. The cuisine is loosely based on the foods of Southern India, tweaked for the Middle East pallet. So the dining is exotic but you know where you are.

Menu items are called by their color. Mickey chose the green dosa for me with a spinach filling purported to be mild. The dosa itself, the wrap (crepe) for the filling, was thick in the middle and thin and crispy on the periphery, for a pleasant crunch. The dosa is served on a tray with several small bowls of various bean-based stews. One was a cholent-like stew topped with diced onion. Another was tomato based. My favorite was based in beets with added tofu squares. This one comes in a dosa or in a bowl.

Mickey brought my companion the Purple dosa served on a bed of rice. His too came with small bowls of stews, each different from the stews that came with my dish, We added some of the rice to the stews for a nice balance. We had quite the culinary adventure, sharing and tasting all the foods. All the flavors were agreeable and a fun time was had by all.

We ended our meal with chai and delicious healthy desserts. The chai with rice milk had the pleasant aroma of cinnamon. The dessert menu offers three different pies, and one dessert that is a tasting of all three. The choice was obvious. We got three small squares of pie, one of each. Chocolate, cream and cardamon. The fillings were rich and one bite of each more than did it. I was sorely tempted to buy souvenirs of the desserts but I forced myself to pass.

Parking: The eternal question when visiting Tel Aviv. We parked in a pay lot on Arlozorov, a short walk and down a flight of stairs from the restaurant. Google maps knows where it is.

Take Away: Tel Aviv must be the capital of take away. At Dosa Bar, like so many other Tel Aviv restaurants, the counter is laden with the familiar site of bags stapled closed with hanging receipts, waiting for pick up.

Mickey suggests ordering the dosa stews and serving them as a side dish with your other foods at home.

From the Menu
Dosas range from NIS 58 - 67
Soup NIS 36
"Extras" bowls of stews NIS 29
Dessert NIS 42