You know a restaurant has to be good when there's a small crowd gathering at the door before it…read moreopens at 8am, and when there's a line waiting for tables by 9am! This is exactly the situation at Shipudei Berek, a modern Israeli restaurant run by a passionate chef who wanted to bring a piece of Tel Aviv to Warsaw!
I just can't emphasize how great this restaurant is--from the trendy modern decor, the friendly service, the videos of life & food in Israel playing in the background, and yes, the delicious food, Shipudei Berek is just bomb! The thing I loved the most was the mezze spread--10 different dishes of freshly prepared appetizers that come with every skewer entree: cabbage, tzatziki, red sumac onions, spicy carrots, shredded carrots, beets, grated tomato, tahini, hummus with chili, and pickled cucumbers & chilies! Every mezze dish was so fresh and seasoned so perfectly--if I had to pick a favorite, it would be the dreamy, creamy hummus, which just goes perfectly with the pita bread that comes on the side!
On top of the mezze, we also got an order of the octopus shipud, which were four pieces of octopus marinated and grilled on skewers! This was delicious as well, though I'd probably suggest getting another protein, since the octopus came out a bit burnt using this preparation. I also got a freshly squeezed pomegranate juice, which had some of the whole arils floating on top! Delicious!
Come, come, come to Shipudei Berek, and if I haven't given you enough reasons, here's one more: the prices are an absolute steal for the quality of food and the overall experience! At one point, our waitress noticed that our skewers were taking a while to arrive, so she asked us if we wanted extra mezze and refilled our requested plates for free!