The kitchen is once again busily turning out delights including smoked aubergine tartare with tahini and pomegranate molasses, salt-baked beetroot with labneh, and what the Erev menu proudly calls simply ‘the best Hummus ever’.
Erev in Notting Hill[Missing Credit]
Those wanting to keep it an all-Israeli experience can wash down the food with a cabernet sauvignon from Galilee, although the wine list boasts bottles from Italy and France to Hungary and Turkey too.
One member of the public even called up to pay for an order of a pitta and said: “I don't actually live nearby, I don't want this, so don't make it. I just wanted to show my support.”
Restaurant owner David Goldstein has welcomed the way loyal customers and first-timers have rallied round. He told the JC: “A lot of people have come here to support a local business they feel is being unfairly targeted, out of principle — and defiance. The response has been heart-warming. It shows people saying, ‘enough is enough’, and choosing to stand with us.”
Restaurant owner David Goldstein[Missing Credit]
He had been concerned over the effect of the protests on his staff. Goldstein said: “What has happened has been incredibly difficult for our team. We are a neighbourhood restaurant, and like all hospitality businesses, we rely on people choosing to come through our doors.
“Our team has shown remarkable resilience in the face of something no hospitality staff should ever have to endure. They’ve rallied together and carried on doing their jobs with professionalism and care.”
Goldstein explained the restaurant will serve west Londoners just as it always has been since it opened its doors as Miznon in 2022 before rebranding as Erev last year: "Our mission statement is to be ambassadors for this amazing food, culture and vibe.
"We just want to be a cool restaurant and bring a taste of Tel Aviv to London."
Erev general manager Silvia Rapicano was delighted with the support they have received in the past few week.
She said: "It was literally a positive boomerang for us.
"We have had many calls, emails and bookings received from Jewish and non-Jewish people. They think that what happened to us is absolutely not fair.
"There is definitely a sense of community spirit."
Reacting to the protest last week, Conservative party leader Kemi Badenoch had called for action by the Government to ensure better protection, saying: “Hate thrives when authority shows weakness.”
Erev's general manager Silvia Rapicano[Missing Credit]
Historian Simon Sebag Montefiore also voiced his support for Erev and condemned the demonstrators, saying: “This intimidation by a gang of bigots is frightening ordinary people, abusing the law, wasting police time, trying to ruin a small business and using the privileges of British freedom of speech to protect a mob.”
Erev will soon be launching a new winter menu and is planning to expand its deliveries to north London neighbourhoods.
“We’re not trying to make a statement,” Goldstein said. “We just want to be a restaurant.”
