Landwer Bisto, Rehavia, Jerusalem

December 2024
The Landwer restaurant chain has some 60 branches throughout Israel. Most of the branches are in malls. A new branch in the Landwer chain, with a new concept, has opened in the Jerusalem Rehavia neighborhood, across from the Prime Minister's former residence.

There is a world of difference between a restaurant in a mall and a neighborhood restaurant. Even when the two restaurants are part of the same restaurant chain, and the menu is almost the same in both restaurants, a mall restaurant and a neighborhood restaurant have a different vibe.

The vibe at Landwer Rehavia varies between the day and the evening. During the day enjoy the lovely refurbished interior or the sunny patio. In the evening candles appear on the table for a romantic destination restaurant. This would be the time to enjoy a cocktail from the bar (NIS 44/46).

You can't beat this location. The corner property on the corner of Ben Maimon and Azza St. has a beautifully designed interior and a large sunny patio. The new young and spiffy restaurant attracts folks from near and far:

"We don't live in Rehavia" explained one customer. "But my parents live in the area and when we visit them, we like to stop here."

Looking around at the diners, I was impressed with the mix of couples, moms with babies, ladies dining together, and business meetings, all enjoying the restaurant without a care in the world. Am Yisrael Chai!

The building that houses Landwer Rehavia is a heritage site, protected by law from redesign. Over the years there have been different restaurants in this location and a renovation was in order. To renovate the infrastructure, the entire building had to be lifted, then renovated and then put back in place. This was quite an engineering project and the location was vacant for several months during the process. The building is now totally renewed with some beautiful accents and a lovely spacious patio.

Owner and Manager Yarin is a restaurant man. He ran his own restaurants in Morocco, Miami and in Tel Aviv. Not only the manager of those restaurants, he was also the chef, so the man knows food. The Landwer franchise enables him to leave the kitchen to the Landwer chefs and focus on the hospitality. Each customer gets a warm welcome and don't be surprised when he knows your name.

We visited Landwer Rehavia, expecting another coffee shop in the Landwer chain but the restaurant surprised us. Our visit started with a warm welcome from Owner Yarin. We were then served glasses of ice coffee. This was not slush, but coffee with ice cubes topped with milk, looking like snow-capped cubes. Yarin is developing Landwer Rehavia as a full bistro restaurant. Folks are welcome to come for just a cuppa. But the restaurant offers a full dairy menu and many specialty dishes not on the standard Landwer menu and Yarin is putting his stamp on the menu. Later this winter there will be 8 new menu items from chef Yarin himself.

The menu focuses on pastas, pizzas and fish dishes. Rosalach (small roses), a uniquely Jerusalem pastry, is a signature dish at Landwer Rehavia. Rosalach are pastry florets in the shape of roses, filled with a delicious mix of labane, slow cooked onions, mozzarella and Parmesan cheese flavored with zaatar.

There are so many nice dishes on the Landwer menu you will need to visit the restaurant multiple times to try even some of them. The pastas are the pride of the Landwer menu. We chose the fettuccine in creamy white wine sauce. The very generous portion was rich in mushrooms and crunchy pieces of leek. The dish was so enticing I was reminded of the famous French (taken up by Israeli) saying "with the food comes the appetite." The menu offers many other pasta dishes, pizza, and other fish dishes. We were glad to see the Ravioli Mascarpone on this menu, another great dish that we have tried at other Landwer restaurants.

The Fish & Chips was a large bowl of crispy chunks of white fish coated with panko and a large serving of chips. This was served with herb aioli and chipolata aioli dips. The presentation of all the dishes was clean, aesthetic, and more than generous. We recommend visiting this restaurant either very hungry or with a partner who likes to share.

The desserts are very tempting and we recommend ending your meal with a Landwer cuppa and a delicious dessert.


From the Menu
Rosalach NIS 45
fettuccine with mushrooms NIS 68
Ravioli Mascarpone NIS 76
Fish & chips NIS 75