The decisions overwhelm you already on the way up to Jerusalem. decisions, and the need to decide them obviously. Of all the Israeli clichés - and the biggest of them, of course, is that we are of interest to someone beyond the border control at the exit from Tel Aviv - it seems that the title "the most complex city in the world" still holds some weight, is still true. And God, things that are much more "decision" than just "decision" and daily stories about the route of a light rail and kosher of businesses That's enough for us - here's another decision that needs to be made, but in fact the most dramatic and the most important, and also one that directly affects the mood and state of mind. I call this decision simply where to eat inside the Inbal hotel. The options will be detailed soon, but the essence is difficult .
הצגת פוסט זה באינסטגרם
The old Jerusalem hotel knows how to dance well on the seam between grandeur and splendor and between simple and non-committal fun. There are enough institutions in the world, and in Israel as well, that weigh on your shoulders right at the entrance with weights of brand and prestige, but here they found the balance well (without forgetting any prestige, God forbid) and above all found what makes people enjoy themselves. Smiles and a wide open pool, for example. And food, lots of food. Not one that starts and ends in the dining room, but one that starts in the dining room and ends far beyond it. There is a winter soup festival here which is already a tradition with its own mythologies and stories, and in the summer an impressive operation of a street-food event was organized here in a similar format. There is a breakfast here that is at least one of the best in Israel and a lot of delicious emphasis on one of the most important features of any vacation. And the 02 restaurant as well, and mainly.
The engine that drives this whole business, for its culinary ambitions and delicious receipts, changed drivers very recently, with the entry of Avraham Friesen into the kitchen after many years led by Nimrod Norman. The shoes were huge. Norman knew how to create well-invested regular food here, and shone every few months with unusual exits in the joy of special menus, based on the mind craft of weaving a story and taste, until the plate. Friesen, with a bustling Jerusalem past, does not escape from this shadow. on the contrary. He goes hand in hand with him, certainly in the beginning, but knows how to break and deceive, create distinctions already in the first days and continue to correspond - with the city, with the restaurant, with Norman, and with himself. All in all, a chef who took turns in the kitchen, apparently. In practice, a great case study of filling the position and getting to know the people who work, in front of a regular and loyal audience that doesn't always jump for joy when a change comes, and all this within a system that is also a restaurant for everything, but also a restaurant for everything, *and in* a hotel. A great test in theory, and tough in practice. Friesen manages it perfectly in the first test.
The menu is still Jerusalem, still kosher, still sings of seasons and streets and earth and stones. Kovna with bone marrow, eggplant and tomatoes will be opened (NIS 76) and a tri-tri Pakos salad will continue, mixed in a bowl and in the stomach with apricots and zucchini and roasted celery root and chili. Apart from them, there is also marinated red palida with green gazpacho, wheat and frozen grapes (NIS 81), crudo intias with cherries and herbs (NIS 84), sheitel tartare that breaks kosher restrictions with fermented cashews and Picania roast beef with spicy mustard and pickles. Obviously pickles.
02 knows her audience well, and highlights large, thick and juicy cuts of beef. Friesen, for his part, increases the fire precisely with other meat games. He makes, among other things, a Romanian kebab with okra and chard, a chicken pilaf with pearl grits and pakila, a lamb neck that doesn't fall off the bone but pops off the head into a lima bean sabbah (NIS 76), and "Ras Asfor lamb shoulder", which is a kind of shawarma with a title Rishon, who remembers her roots. And the roots are sorrel and Swiss chard, in the middle with a thick green tahini around it. more? Large plates of fish - Signia Locust and Mezhujin Trout - also beckon, and vegetarian dishes (Kuba or meftoul with Madura eggplant and hazelnuts) create another dilemma. Another dilemma and another decision. What a city, what a restaurant.
Without dilemmas. Inbal Hotel
הצגת פוסט זה באינסטגרם
This wind blows through the heavy front door of 02, and also affects the rest of the hotel. Ventilates, cools, and touches the points of connection that anywhere else would create tension and a class gap, and here they simply represent that land of unlimited possibilities. The Jerusalem street food festival in the courtyard of the complex is a good example of this - a real celebration, with a real Tabun fire and a fire of theoretical creation, which does not step on the toes of Friesen and his team, but only increases, elevates. The event, led by the hotel's chef Kafir Hadad, will continue until the end of the summer (Sunday-Thursday, 18:00-23:00), and this is one of the distinct, and the few, advantages that can be found in such a long hot season.
The deal is simple, but still eye-catching - NIS 127, unlimited. And how much this pair of words sends stimulating currents in our consumer backs. There is an homage here to the delicious streets of the capital, the justifiable reliance on the superior tabon abilities of the kitchen team, and much more than that. A Jerusalem pretzel, that's clear. With za'atar inserted into a piece of newspaper, like when I was a child (mine, anyway, Ramla style), and mazats on the side - a sweet mahmara with pomegranate and walnut concentrate, a warm masbah, three versions of falafel, including one filled with perfect cheese, and vegetables, and a vegan mix, And Amba and a lot of tahini. how not These are increased, in fact before bowing, to the tabunic carbohydrate parade. Wonderful doughs, no less, that pair with oregano and Bulgarian cheese and mozzarella and garlic and cherry tomatoes and fresh thyme and egg and fried onion - until a real war breaks out between the head and the heart, and between the head and the stomach. And all that remains is to close the matter (with fruit, of course, and homemade hearts).
The night in the hotel, which hosted us so generously, is thus spent in thoughts and pangs of conscience. Not about how much you ate, but about what you didn't have enough and couldn't eat. In the morning, the page is cleared, and the head is ready again, initialized. And he should be like that. The breakfast here stands out to the point of glaring in the reality where the breakfasts in Israeli hotels are a matter that has long since gone beyond competition and respect, and years ago went into extreme regions. With what is going on here, simply, it is almost impossible to compete.
It starts with the infinity of the buffet. Or of the buffets, or however many of the buffets are written. everything point. But because we've learned to be wary of places that serve everything, we've honed in - everything, and excellent. Fresh vegetables and finely chopped salad next to them, elaborate variations of pickled fish and a collection of fatty cheeses, a lively omelet stand and colorful hot dishes - borax and shashuka and what not. Fried eggplant and avocado salad breaks stigmas by fanning out options that a plate is not big enough for, and large containers of iced tea next to warm knapa molds. And again, the tabon. The hot corner of the dining room is dedicated to this fire dance, and you would do well to reject (against all common sense) any action and simply wait, and load it up. It comes with an egg in a pita-like dough boat, or as an Italian-Jerusalem pizza, with za'atar and with melted cheeses, brown and torn and leaving you again wondering what to take, and what to give up. The answer, clearly, is everything, and nothing.
It's really hard to fall for food in Jerusalem, certainly if it's not your first entry into the city. Most of the problems will be solved by the Mahane Yehuda market anyway, and in recent years enough options have accumulated to break its monopoly, or simply hold the baton in the hungry relay race of all of us. Within this maze, the Inbal Hotel manages to preserve and maintain, improve and upgrade, its own menu. Its people know how to talk to the real Jerusalemites and understand very well what the guests from outside the city, and from abroad, are also looking for. You, as overnight tourists, just have to surrender to the options, and let someone else decide for you. It is a complex city, with historical dilemmas. They will be here tomorrow too. now eating
02 Restaurant and Street Food Festival, Inbal Hotel, Jabotinsky 3, Jerusalem