Sense: Where Netanya Learns to Stay Out Late
The bass drops before the bread lands. A low, pulsing rhythm threads through the dining room, bouncing off mirrored surfaces and jewel toned upholstery, and for a moment you forget you are sitting in an industrial pocket of Netanya rather than a members only lounge on the Dubai Marina. Then a plate of charcoal grilled cabbage arrives, its blackened leaves still crackling, a slick of tahini pooling beneath them alongside a vinaigrette so fiercely chili laced it could wake you from a midweek stupor. This is Sense on a Thursday evening: part chef restaurant, part cocktail bar, part nightclub, and entirely committed to the idea that dinner should never be boring.
The venture is the brainchild of three young partners, among them Natan, who delayed the opening while completing military reserves service during wartime. When the doors finally swung open in 2024, the team enlisted Chef Dodo Ben Abu, a name that carries weight in Israeli culinary circles, to run the kitchen. His mission: marry bold Israeli flavors with French technique inside a room that turns into a dance floor by 9 PM. It is an ambitious brief, and the remarkable thing is how often the kitchen delivers.