Options Galore at Café Xoho

Zoe Wernick
Feb 13, 2016
3 min read

A warm, vibrant, welcome.

Cafe Xoho is a well known and loved Tel Aviv establishment. But even in the thriving and competitive cafe culture here, this colorful gem rises above! Run by young Olim Chadashim (new immigrants), the cafe features an all female, English fluent staff. And, in the land of Israel, where food allergies are often met with furrowed brows and perhaps even a "You try, you try!" (Um, no, sir, I cannot try!), Cafe Xoho is a welcome change as their staff is not only polite, but knowledgeable about food allergies and the ingredients in their food!

Xoho is a vegetarian multinationalish restaurant- to my eye it seems like there are some American and Mexican influences and some Israeli-ish creations - but they also have salmon for their amazing looking bagles! Sadly, these aren't gluten free, but you can order any sandwich or bagel they offer on their Gluten Free in-house-baked bread! If you'd like one of their wraps or burritos, no problem either as they make their own corn tortillas (which were really good - and I'm a harsh critic when it comes to Mexican food)! They also offer another GF bread they call "Adventure Bread," made with a mixture of nuts and seeds, but they don't recommend it for sandwiches because of it's smaller size.

This is one way to start your Saturday off right!

I came to Xoho most recently for Saturday brunch - a new offering from the cafe, they have only been open on Saturdays for a couple of weeks. They featured a different menu for Saturday, but it included many of their classics. I chose the Lord and Savor - a Kimche stuffed quesadilla with fried eggs and topped with corn. I'm not sure that the kimche really amped up the flavor for me (I think avocado would have been a more delicious choice, but I'm biased because everything is 10x better with avocado), but the star of the show was that house made corn tortilla I already mentioned. It was light, fluffy, with lots of flavor and held together even with the giant load of cheese and kimche inside it. Though maybe I wouldn't order it again next time because there are simply too many awesome GF options to try, it was a really good breakfast, especially because (not only was it delicious) it was different! Xoho maybe isn't the place to go if you're looking for a really authentic Israeli meal, but if you're looking for incredible food and a warm atmosphere - it's a must go.

Yes, please.

But the highlight for me about Cafe Xoho is that they bake gluten free treats. In a city that boasts bakeries every block, it can get a little depressing never finding anyone who is making a sweet carbohydrate that I can eat. Xoho more than delievers. They offer cookies, (today's flavors were Chocolate chip and Pecan Seseme), Gluten Free brownies (hands down amazing, insanely chocolatey and delicious - oh, I had been looking for you for so long!), and occasionally Gluten Free cakes and other baked goodies. They do often use nuts in their flours, so if you've got that allergy too (like I do), be sure to ask your server - don't worry, she will either know off the top of her head or be happy to go find out for you!

Obviously I was delighted with my meal, but they most certainly have me hooked on their baked goods. It will be hard to walk by them every day on my way to and from class and not stop to get that amazing, practically perfect Gluten Free brownie.