MarkC's Profile
Top Food Experiences in Israel
It is in an elevated position above the port, so it has a view.
Top Food Experiences in Israel
If you go down a few threads you'll find that this subject has been quite exhaustively covered recently. Here's an article about a restaurant called Helena in Caesaria port:
http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/pleasure-hunting/delicacies-of-ancient-rome.premium-1.429492
Visiting vineyards in Israel
In the Golan Heights, Yarden and Chateau Golan. In the Judean hills near Jerusalem, Castel, Ella Valley, Clos de Gat, Flam.
Is understanding wine a talent, or can a novice oenophile learn?
I'm kind of like you. I have an intellectual understanding of wine, the different varietals and other factors. But I'll be damned if I can discern what region a wine came from by tasting it, except in very obvious cases. And I belong to a group of wine afficionados who are absolutely brilliant, with an uncanny ability to identify a wine, and explain step-by-step how they are doing it. I'm convinced that there is a talent, or put another way, some people have a deficit in their ability to make subtle taste distinctions. But I still enjoy myself, and my friends still like me, so who cares?
"A man's drink of choice , tells volumes of one's character"-- need help..
Just stumbled on this interesting conversation. I am definitely of the "beer, scotch, or diet coke" school. Remember, you are at a business meeting. What you drink is like what you wear. It's your grey or blue suit. Maybe not quite as strong a statement, but not that far off. It says: " I know how to fit in, even if I don't want to. I know the difference between my work life and my personal life, and that I need to keep them separate"
Somebody who orders a negroni is blurring the borders. He is a little too concerned about enjoying his drink or expressing his "personhood". It's not so much a macho thing, as a flake factor. If somebody orders a negroni, I obviously won't dismiss him as a business partner, but for sure I will remember it. In the end, you don't want your business partners to remember what drink you ordered, or what color suit you wore, or any other personal detail.
If you want to express individuality, order a bourbon instead of a scotch.
Off the Beaten Track Restaurant Finds for Our (Slightly) Off the Beaten Track Sicily Itinerary?
Sounds like that place is down the tubes, so maybe try Castelbuono, also in the Madonie area. Two places that receive special notice are Nangalaruni and Palazzaccio. We're going in mid-May, so you'll beat us there.
Tyre?
I don't think you're going to find too many people on this website who can answer your question. However, this guy is a Lebanese/Australian with a food blog who travels a lot to Lebanon. http://thefoodblog.com.au/
9 Nights in Tel Aviv
That's true. Rosh Pina is a good base.
By the way, I was only teasing you about the leeches. They do have occasional outbreaks, but it seems to be only in years when the lake is severely stressed by drought. This year we had plenty of rain.
9 Nights in Tel Aviv
Tiberias is still pretty far from the Golan, probably about an hour, so not an especially good base, but as you've prepaid, nothing to be done. Watch out for leeches! http://www.ocean.org.il/Eng/Focus/leech.asp
9 Nights in Tel Aviv
Boy, looks like you swallowed the travel book!
Yes, skip Tiberias. Two nights there is crazy. If you really want to "do" the sea of gallilee, stay in Ramot on the bluffs above the lake, in a zimmer. That's what Israelis do. There are good restaurants there too. Mitzpe Yamim is a health treatment spa, where people spend the day wandering through the hotel in their bath robes waiting for massages. The place is kind of run down looking.
CresyD is right, it's hard to find really good food inthe north. But there are exceptions. Check out this place: http://www.alumabakfar.co.il/index.php?tPath=234
It is in Ramot Naftali, high above the Hula Valley, with spectacular views. The food is far and away the best I've had (tapas style - but real Spanish ones, not Israeli) and the hotel looked nice also, though we didn't stay. If it were me, I'd spend maybe one night in Ramot and two nights at this place. A drive through Tiberias will confirm that you made the right decision.
Other things to do. The goat dairy chalav im a ruach: http://www.goatswiththewind.com/organic-cheese-farm-restaurant-galilee-israel.php
Forgive the cheesy poem (no pun intended) on their website. This place is kind of a kick. A back-to-nature couple has built this rustic farm with a rambling garden where you can sample their cheeses (specializing in Italian style cheeses) and the woman makes quite a delicious lunch. It's on the way to the sea of gallilee, so you can stop for lunch before continuing on.
It'll be too hot to be terribly active during the day, but do a safari layla (night safari). If you want to see wild boar they'll take you to a game trail at dusk, and at night they drive around with a big spotlight looking for porcupines, gazelles, foxes, etc. Even if you don't see anything, it's kind of fun. Ask at your hotel.
At Kibbutz Ein Zivan in the Golan Heights you can do a "katif", or fruit picking. You pay for a basket and can pick cherries and blackberries. There is something rather lovely about doing this. August may be late in the season, so you'll need to check. Pelter, a boutique winery, is also located there, although I'm not sure if they have visitor faciltiies. If not, definitely worth visitng another Golan Heights winery, like Yarden or Chateau Golan.
And now, for the best tip of your life. Spend a day with Morris: 052-849-9217. Morris is a tour guide who specializes in fruit trees. There are lot of old orchards gone wild in the gallilee, with fruit varieties you won't see in any supermarket, and Morris knows them all. August is a bad month for most things, but it's great for figs and mulberries. Make sure he takes you to Suriman, an abandoned Circassian village in the Golan. It's nominally in a military area, so it's unsignposted, and nobody knows about it. It's like something from Indiana Jones, with the zebra-striped minaret rising from the forest canopy. And the fruit trees. You can stuff yourself with the most delicious mulberries you'll ever eat. Spectacular views over Syria. This will be the highlight of your trip.
I always wanted to go to Wadi Mujib in Jordan. Check it out on the internet.
9 Nights in Tel Aviv
Uri Buri is delicious, but inconsistent. I've had disappointing meals there. Your best bet is if the fat man himself, Uri, is in the kitchen while you're there.
And of course, if you're in Acco, you have to go to Hummus Said, in the market, which people say has the best hummus in Israel. Just look for the line. Whether it's the best hummus is rather an inane question, but it makes for a good destination.
Personally, I would give Tiberias a miss. The Kinneret (sea of gallilee) is most beautiful viewed from a distance (did you know that it's full of leeches?). Tiberias is a budget holiday destination and will be packed in August. It is relentlessly kosher. I find it rather a miserable place, and in August it will be as hot as hell. There are far more beautiful and interesting places (with better food) in northern Israel.
9 Nights in Tel Aviv
I would exchange the sea breezes of Manta Ray for lunch in the Carmel Market in August, when it's hot, fetid, and unprepossessing. If you want, go late at night to Basta for wine and nibbles, when it will be (somewhat) cooler. It's nicer sitting outside. It's really a wine bar, and my foodie friends complain that meals there are vastly overpriced. I've only had wine and appetizers.
Tourists to the Carmel market usually go to the adjacent Yemenite Quarter to eat. This could be a good choice if Ali Karavan is closed. Some of the restaurants there have been there since the British mandate. Hummus Surie (Syria) is often mentioned as the best, although there probably isn't a huge difference among them. Just go and see which one looks inviting. I've never bothered even to look at the names of the restaurants when I've eaten there. The hummus is good. Look for mallawach (Yemenite bread) and other specialties.
If you have a car, I'd recommend an excursion to Herzliya, a beach community about ten minutes north of Tel Aviv. First, you can have lunch at a Tripolitanian restaurant in the tiny commercial center of Nof Yam, which is the northern half of Herzliya. The Jews of Libya, like the Italian colonizers, considered themselves citizens of Tripoli, and their cooking is spicier than other North African cuisine. Here you can have chraime, mafroum, couscous, and other dishes which are an important part of the Israeli culinary tradition, but which tourists seldom hear about. Nothing fancy, but good, homecooked fare. I don't remember the name of the restaurant, it is the name of the female owner, but it is in the only commercial center in Nof Yam (really just a handful of buildings), at the end of the road that runs closest to the shore. I wouldn't recommend the trip just for that, but just around the corner is the Sidnah Allah Mosque (corrupted to "Sidney Alley" by the local Jews) sitting on the bluffs above the sea, one of the more picturesque sights in Israel. Just next door are the ruins of the crusader port and fortress of Arsuf, also very picturesque and worth a visit. You can get directions on the website of the Israeli parks authority.
Also, Raphael does a great brunch on saturday. It consists of a set first course of delicious mezzot, with a choice of main courses with a North African slant. It's really lunch, not at all breakfast-ey. I doubt that the Bezalel market, and it's felafal stand, will be open on saturday. Also kiosk. It's shabbat.
Looking for restaurant with rooms by the sea - anywhere in Italy
If you're looking for a quiet beach holiday with views and sandy beaches, then the island of Elba might have what you're looking for.
9 Nights in Tel Aviv
Last comment. If you're staying in East Jerusalem, here's an article about traditional Palestinian food, and where to find it:
http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/magazine/winter-on-the-mount-of-olives-1.410886
9 Nights in Tel Aviv
By the way, if you really want good, authentic Arabic food, wait until you go up north and eat at El Babor in Uhm Al Fahm or Diana in Nazareth. There is simply no comparing with what you'll find in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem.
9 Nights in Tel Aviv
I am definitely not the Jerusalem expert, but if you're going into the old city hunt down Hummus Lina for lunch. It's on the Via Dolorosa. Enter through the Damascus Gate in East Jerusalem for the real cultural experience - not the boring, touristy Jaffa Gate.
For what it's worth, I ate at Dolphin Yam a couple of years ago and hated it. There are a ton of restaurants in that area. I remember Adom being good. For a cultural experience, eat lunch at Rachamim (?), in that same area for kubbe and other Kurdish specialties.
I ate at Mahane Yehuda once. The food is good, but the place is cramped and noisy. It is also located some distance from the actual market. It is a kind of chop house, not what I would call a "cultural experience". I saw restaurants inside the market that looked more fun to eat at.
I was thinking of staying at Jerusalem Hotel once (in the end we didn't), and read on trip advisor that the food is mediocre. American Colony Hotel in East Jerusalem has good food in atmospheric setting, but expensive.
9 Nights in Tel Aviv
Tzfon Abraxas and Yoezer Wine Bar are not Arabic restaurants.. I find them both pretentious and ovepriced restaurants with bad attitude and inferior to the other two. I would pick Herbert Samuel.
Not unless you consider bad food a cultural experience.
No comparing Majda to Abu Ghosh. The first is upscale middle eastern-accented food. The second is traditional Arab grill restaurants. Try and do both, although I obviously prefer Majda, which is also more atmospheric. It is run by a Jewish/Arab couple.
Manta Ray is a great restaurant in Tel Aviv. You can sit outside overlooking the beach, with great, somewhat original mezzot and seafood. I would recommend this over some of the more expensive places on your list.
I haven't heard anything about Cena.
9 Nights in Tel Aviv
Okay, here's my two cents.
Lighten up on your eating schedule. You will be there in August, so it will be hot. I wouldn't do lunch at Coffee Bar and dinner at Catit, for example. It's just too much (although both places are good.) Also, Israel has great fine dining, but you'll find a certain similarity. The upscale mediterranean thing - it's a formula, all the menus start to look the same. I would look for more fun, kick-ey sorts of restaurants.
I'm not sure kitchen market will be open on sunday. The covered market is closed. It's also better to go for lunch, when you can enjoy the sea views. I also think Adora is closed on sunday. Need to check it.
Skip Hinnawi and the other Arabic restaurants in Tel Aviv. They're just not very good, and you'll do better in Abu Ghosh. Once is enough. It's not the most interesting cuisine in the world. Simple grilled meat and mezzes. Across from Abu Ghosh, in the village of Ein Hemed, don't miss Majda. Beautiful, garden restaurant with innovative cooking.
Choose Herbert Samuel or Raphael. Not the other two.
I disagree about Bet Thailandi (Thai House). I think the food's great, and worth a trip. It's lighter food, better for summer. It's also near the beach, and Bograshov is fun street to walk on, with great ice cream (or try a kurtosh - an indescribable pastry from Hungary). Also try a place called Kiosk, owned by the controversial celebrity chef Eyal Shani. It is on Ibn Gvirol and Kaplan. They serve gourmet pita sandwiches, and the lines are out the door. Mezcal in the bohemian Florentin has surprisingly good Mexican, and is probably the only place in Israel to get good margaritas. Great pizza near the cinematheque at Philipe's, a Frenchman who brought his pizza-making skills to Israel, and has the only woodburning oven in Israel. That's also a really fun area to eat and walk around - tons of restaurants. Likewise Ibn Gvirol near the Tel Aviv municipality. Brasserie near there is very popular.
For the first time, you can get a good pastrami sandwich in Israel. Try Rubens (several locations now, the flagship on Yehuda Halevy), and the place in the covered market in the Tel Aviv port is even better. To me, this is kind of eating is much more fun than hunting for reviews on the internet.
Finally, I will give you the hot tip. I have a lot of foodie friends, and they're all raving about a tiny place called Oasis on Tchernikovski Street. The chef is an American woman who worked at some big places in the Bay Area. It's in stealth mode now, you won't find anything about it on the internet, but maybe by the time you come they will be out in the open.
Looking for restaurant with rooms by the sea - anywhere in Italy
I'm going to go out on a limb here. I stayed at a place that fit your criteria exactly, except for one. It is a family run place with great food and ocean view, easy beach access, immaculate golden sand beaches and warm sea, beautiful countryside, and not too many tourists. Except that it wasn't in Italy... it was in Crete:
http://www.sunset.com.gr/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15&Itemid=29
Also lots of beautiful places to drive to if you have a car. It was one of the most idyllic vacations we ever had. So if Italy isn't essential...
Sicily
I am taking a week long sailing trip through the Aeolian islands in May, but will be a day each in Taormina, Cefalu, and Palermo. I've been through the various threads, but if anyone has any additional recs, will appreciate it.
Trip Report
The selection available to diners the night I was there was only two shelves. Didn't look like an entire wine shop to me.
Ile Saint-Louis
I meant that you don't see it mentioned in the popular guidebooks, which is true. There is a world outside of chowhound. While every other attraction in Paris is swamped, it is easy to get tickets to this one.
Ile Saint-Louis
There is a tiny place called Le Relais de l'Isle where I wasn't able to get a reservation, but which gets great reviews on tripadvisor, and features jazz piano every evening. I'm surprised not to see it mentioned on chowhound.
I"ll also give you the recommendation of a lifetime, which isn't food related, so I hope the chowhound staff doesn't delete it. There are regular concerts held in the Ste. Chapelle, quite close to you, and to hear music in this twelfth century masterpiece is unforgettable. Nobody seems to know about it, and tickets can be easily obtained on the internet. Don't miss it.
Trip Report
We were with kids, so wasn't really a chowhound trip. We rented an apartment on the Avenue des Gobelins, just below the Rue Mouffetard, which is a great area full of restaurants, mostly ethnic, and not a lot of tourists. One recommendation is Au Vietnam, which has great food with reasonable prices and nice service.
We had a pleasant meal at Les Papilles, but to me it wasn't worth the high praise it gets on all the blogs. The main course was soupy beans with carrots and a generous portion of fatty pork breast along with it. It was tasty enough, but let's face it, it was pork and beans. I like pork and beans as much as the next guy, but I was somehow expecting something a little more ambitious, based on more than just the flavor of animal fat. I also found the wine selection limited and uninteresting. The fact that it was nothing but tourists probably has some bearing. I think one can do better in Paris.
Great middle eastern pastry at the atmospheric La Mosquee, but dinner was strictly mediocre, so stick to the afternoon tea.
And now, for the most important caveat. DO NOT go to Tan Dinh. I found this place in an out-of-date guidebook which described it as upscale, sophisticated Vietnamese. It was not. The food was out and out bad. Some of the dishes were no more than simple stir fries, and for this we paid 180 euros for four people. And to think we paid half this price for the infinitely better Au Vietnam. When we entered, the very ancient proprietor, dressed in an elegant suit, personally greeted us, which was nice, but then he proceeded to talk my ear off the entire evening, and this in spite of the fact that I barely speak French. It was thoroughly obnoxious, and it was all I could do not to tell him to piss off. To add insult to considerable injury, they don't take credit cards, so I had to pay all my cash, and barely had enough to pay for the taxi back.
I should have had my doubts when I was able to get a reservation for the same saturday night. Apart from us, there was a big table of Americans, and two wealthy, eccentric-looking French couples who were there for the expensive wine list and personalized brown-nosing from the proprietor (I know everything about them, because the old fool gave me a running commentary). Anyway, run, do not walk, from this obnoxious clip joint.
One vegetarian in the family
Thanks, I guess we'll just have to avoid the prix fixe bistros. One place we wanted to try was Les Papilles, which is a no options menu. On that night, I will just go with my son.
One vegetarian in the family
We will be in Paris next week. One of the kids eats neither meat nor fish. This seems to exclude a lot of restaurants that don't have vegetarian offerings among the main courses, and often very few among the starters.
On the other hand, the rest of us don't want to eat at vegetarian restaurants. Can anyone recommend restaurants that have good, traditional French food, but also include vegetarian options?
Also, from the point of view of etiquette, in prix fixe restaurants, can one ask that a diner have two vegetarian offerings from the starters in lieu of a main course?
Winery Tours in Israel
In the north, Yarden and Chateau Golan. Near Jerusalem, Castel, Ella Valley, Clos de Gat. Flam.
Cooking and Baking Classes in Israel
For baking, probably the best non professional course is given by Gaia Bertele. She is the wife of Hans Bertele, a German pastry chef who settled in Israel many years ago, and is quite a celebrity. I think Hans makes occasional appearances at the classes. http://www.rol.co.il/sites/gaia/
Osim Bishul in Herzliya gives good amateur cooking classes as well. www.osim bishul.co.il. Should be a hyphen between osim and bishul, for some reason the punctuation on my keyboard doesnt translate to chowhound.
Estella is a professional pastry school, but may have summer courses for non'professionals. www.estella.co.il.
Dining recs in Latin Quarter
Just checked the trap and saw all of your answers. Thanks a lot. By ethnic I meant food not native to France, and particular to different ethnic groups -Moroccan, Vietnamese, etc. This is a common figure of speech in America.
Dining recs in Latin Quarter
We will be in an apartment on the Rue Mouffetard for a week in April. We're with two kids, so not looking for michelin stars, but good bistros and ethnic. Any recommendations will be appreciated.
