Israel on your plate

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On the occasion of the 65th Independence Day, the Embassy of Israel organised Israeli Food Week at the Hyatt Regency. Known for Greek and Turkish influence on their cuisines, the food turned out to be a delightful affair.

We started our meal with veggie starters and a lovely bread, which the chef insisted on calling Saturday bread, as it is consumed over weekends. “We attack our breads with our hands and do not rely on fork and knife,” joked chef Eran Zino. He along with Chef Zachi Bukshester were specially flown in for the food week.
We started with cauliflower in tahini sauce, beetroots chunks strewn with peanut roast and the bourekas or puff pastry filled with lentils. “As soon as we started frying out a few bourekas, the Indian chefs told us that they can dish out something similar, called samosas,” smiled Bukshester.
For main-course we moved on to seabass fish cooked in a tangy tomato base and garnished with parsley and another dish prepared using tahini sauce and fried onion. This was followed by a grilled chicken dish and then the chef got in a lamb kebab on a charcoal furnace stand. “The kebab is overlapped on a cinnamon stick, giving it a delightful aroma and flavour. And once you take the first bite you will find a confluence of different spices,” explains chef Zino.
We signed off our meal with the smallest possible portions of sinful desserts chocolate pear cake and Parfait Chalva, absolutely rich and divine