Who needs to spend all day Friday cooking, when you have the possibility of buying Shabbat meals? Well, a visit to El Gaucho takeaway department last Friday convinced me that it’s a very popular idea indeed. People were leaving with carrier bags laden with food.
You can buy the whole meal – hors d’oeuvres, mains, desserts, salads, and sides – and have nothing left to do except arrange them nicely and let your guests think you’ve been slaving over a hot stove all morning.
Personally, I love to cook and never buy ready-made food. But I spoke to Max Himi, longtime proprietor of the excellent El Gaucho restaurant in Netanya, and he invited me to come and inspect what was available and maybe that would convince me to give it a try.
Takeaway food for Shabbat
So last Friday morning we walked over to El Gaucho hall and inspected the large selection of different food categories laid out for the buyers.
There is a huge variety of chicken, meat, and fish choices, every side dish you could dream of, some vegetarian offerings, and endless kinds of salads.
Among the fish choices (NIS 99-159 a kilo) are gefilte fish and fried and grilled fillets of several different fish. From the meat section you can start your meal with chopped liver, and choose from smoked asado, sliced veal, chorizo, kebab, chicken, sweet and sour chicken wings, and other meats.
For sides you can choose from a variety of rice and pasta dishes, potatoes – regular and sweet and the children’s favorite petitim (derived from couscous).
Also looking very appetizing were sliced eggplant fried in batter (NIS 69 a kilo), cigars, fresh broccoli in a crumb coating, antipasti with zucchini and sliced cabbage, and even some perfectly formed kubbeh – (ground meat encased in a dough and fried ) – to enhance any meal (NIS 89 a kilo).
We took four items to supplement our Shabbat meal and we were six diners – my daughter and son-in-law, who were visiting from Beit Shemesh and my two sons, who often drop in for a Friday night meal.
We took the chicken wings, some asado slices, the green beans, and some very attractive juicy-looking sausages.
The chicken wings were very small, and the edible part provided barely a mouthful. But they were sweet and crunchy (NIS 99 a kilo).
The chopped liver went down well with all the family except for our vegan son, who made do with hummus and hot mushroom sauce (homemade). You could definitely taste the liver, but it was oilier than the homemade variety.
The meat eaters liked the smoked asado (NIS 189 a kilo) and found it to be very tender and tasty, while the sausages provided a great burst of flavor and texture without being too spicy.
Finally, the green beans with plenty of garlic added a healthful note to the meal (NIS 49 a kilo).
Several fruit-based desserts and cakes are available, but we didn’t need any, as I’d made an apple pie, my son-in-law’s favorite.
However, the choice of strudels and cakes is large and includes poppy seed and chocolate soufflé (NIS 35-45).
On reflection it’s great to be able to buy good, well-prepared food and spend your time doing something worthwhile like charity work, or even enjoying bridge and golf games, if that’s your thing. Me, I’ll carry on cooking.
- El Gaucho Shabbat Takeaway
- 2 Oved Ben Ami Boulevard
- Netanya
- Tel: (09) 884-1264
- Open: Friday, 6:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.
- Kashrut: Netanya Rabbinate
- Wheelchair accessible
- The writer was a guest of the restaurant.