Yakota (Beersheba) 01/2014

Our incredibly friendly host, the chef owner of this Moroccan restaurant, Bebber, was delighted to be able to serve us. He was, he said “living my dream”. He goes to sleep with a smile on his face and wakes up with a smile on his face. 

 

The place is full of charming atmosphere.  Shapes of the doorways and columns and the decor

 including the light fittings and photo's of weddings a hundred years ago all add to this.

The menu is extraordinary. It is a meat restaurant and more ‘nose to tail’ than any we have previously encountered. It includes such items as turkey testicles and bulls feet. I would have loved to have tried these dishes but, out voted, we had the more standard Moroccan fare.

we were served about a dozen small dishes including a variety of presentations of egg plant, a spicy dish of pickled vegetables, a dish of boiled quince, what he called love fruit, orange and dates infused with rose water giving it a light and unique taste and a house specialty—humus, accompanied by Moroccan bread.

 

Shef Bebber, as he calls himself on his English card, then brought a small sweet appetizer 

followed by a series of tagines, steaming hot, to the table, all to share.

A cous cous, chick pea and root vegetable was served in a ceramic tagine

to be eaten with the slow cooked beef,

steaming hot lamb,

or veal is another house specialty.

 and one more meat dish

 

This was a substantial meal and we were ready to leave but our host insisted that tradition demanded that we finish the meal with tea and sweets.

A tiered tray arrived shortly after filled with a variety of quite delicate Moroccan delights.

The food here is as genuinely Moroccan and we thoroughly enjoyed the experience

After this it was going to very hard to manage another dinner at Hatracklin, a well known meat restaurant in Tel Aviv, only a few hours later.

  Score: 13.75/20

Messa (Tel Aviv) New Years Eve 2013

This is a highly regarded restaurant and you have only to walk through the door to get an inkling why. 

The place is stunning with a large central communal table 

and up two small steps, a long balcony with large tables that comfortably seat six. 

The floor is white marble and the tables are veneered with pink marble creating a lavish, over the top luxurious image. Ceiling lights are cloaked in modern style, in capacious petticoats.

The menu, created by Chef Aviv Moshe comes in a four page booklet with glowing comments inside the front page and a rather romantic and poetic but not inappropriate expression of the chef’s sentiments inside the back page.

Inspired by memorable moments I will repeat his remarks here.

“The passion of a lover’s embrace

A mysterious woman glimpsed in semi profile

The aromas wafting from Mother's kitchen

Winter in the Jerusalem mountains

The soft tones of a saxophone echoing in the memory.

Messa is the realization of a dream for Moshe and we get a chance here to be part of his dream.

The menu offered 10 entrees and eight main courses. It is currently very roughly NIS3 per A$

Oysters with granita of lemon, lemongrass and Shata pepper sounded expensive at about $10 each but I saw them in a supermarket, unshucked at about $8 so in that environment they were very reasonable.

The most striking entree was a foie gras surprise NIS96. A good size piece of seared fresh goose liver with several little dips, decorated with edible flowers. It was a beautifully executed and presented dish.

Shrimp ravioli, blue crab bisque and Tonka foam was another super entree, delicate and flavoursome a mere NIS 98.

 

Every dish was complex, blended tastes admirably and looked enticing. Here portobello with fresh corn polenta, poached egg, parmesan and truffle oil.

Bread was served with se.veral dips, as is common in Israel.

 Main courses were equally impressive. Jumbo shrimp, vanilla and citrus sauce, gnochi and macadamia nuts, NIS 218 was, I'm told, excellent.
 
Caramelized drum fish, chestnut ravioli, Yuzu cream and snow peas, NIS 218, was the most popular dish at our table, for good reason. Well prepared, and it was, this is a magnificent fish reminiscent of cod in the way the flesh flakes but much finer in texture and taste.

Lamb chops with lemon fondue, fennel and avocado salad with chili potato cream, NIS 224, had each chop standing in a glass at the bottom of which resided the surprising slightly sweet sauce.

A banana based dessert showed less imagination


and a chocolate mousse was too rich for any one person to finish.

 Chef Moshe uses advanced cooking techniques as he attempts to be daring and innovative, to present food in sensuous and exciting form allowing ingredients to display a unique blend of flavours and textures. To a large degree he succeeds.

Score:17 /20

Colony (Jerusalem) 12/2013

 In appearance this restaurant could be the little brother of Tatti Loft. It was once some sort of electricity station. It features a large bar, bare brick walls, high ceilings, big tables, no cloths

 

and a loft dining area, at the top left of this pic,

and a terrace dining space and a large bar.

 

Décor is simple with uninspiring paintings on the walls (for sale, price on application) and a white on black dining scene at the end of the room.

The service was also pleasant and menus are in English and Hebrew. At present one A$ buys approximately three New Israeli Shekels (NIS).

The food menu was on one page, click on the photo to enlarge it.

with a separate dessert menu whilst the wine menu covered about six pages and included Israeli wines and both new and old world wines.

We ate well

Starting with a pleasant lentil soup 

we went on to several entrees. These are all included with the main courses with occasional surcharges.

Shoosha,  the name was irresistible, is a stuffed pepper in a batter shell was excellent despite it's appearance here,

as was a fairly sweet liver pate with somewhat over toasted brioche.

As so often happens these days their bread was very moorish, served as a small loaf.

Baked eggplant was also delicious.

Main courses we tasted included

Escalope of veal

Gnochi with chestnuts in a cheese sauce

Barbecued chicken breast with Arabian flavours.

Lamb meatballs with root vegetables and salad

A dessert of strawberry sorbet encased in meringue was enough for four.

Here the food was extremely tasty, nicely presented and well worth the price.

Score 14.5/20

Tatti Loft (Yehud) Israel 12/2013

This popular restaurant, set in an industrial area, prides itself on providing all natural products. Of course it'swhat you do with them that counts.

The venue is a large open space with a loft suspended over one corner.

 Bare brick walls

and very high ceilings seem to be effective in reducing the overall noise level.
Service is very friendly informative and rather unsophisticated.
The menu is set out in the standard fashion with starters, mains and desserts.
We began with a cerviche which was a small very mild dish.

A serve of tempura salmon fingers which was actually overcooked salmon fingers in batter, certainly not tempura batter.

Liver pate was smooth and slightly sweet, very tasty serve presented with a jam and toast.

Another starter shrimp was also very good.

A Hamburger with the lot was massive. Served with ketchup and mustard in the bottles in which they came from the supermarket showed a marked lack of style.

Paparadelles with chicken, beef and liver was baked in a paper bag and presented at the table in the bag which was unceremoniously dumped in my plate.

It was an unattractive mess of a dish, The lemon dominated taste of the sauce was modified by a green herb cream sauce which now looked even worse.

I wish I had ordered something else!
Focaccio, baked at their next door bakery was outstanding

and their potato chips were great too.

We did not test the dessert menu. 
This was a pleasant but expensive wine.
  
 Score:13.25 /20