Tel Aviv’s popularity is growing in the European media, finally! In the context of the Belgian Culinary Week in Tel Aviv, we had the pleasure of having chef Viki Geunes here, accompanied by a tv-crew for ATV – Antwerp Television and a reporter from the renowned cooking magazine ‘Culinaire Ambiance‘. In the videos below you’ll see their discoveries in the city…
Part one: Chef Viki Geunes from the renowned ‘t Zilte restaurant in Antwerp discovers the city of Tel Aviv and meets Yossi Shitrit, chef from Kitchen Market, as part of the “Belgian Culinary Week” held at the new Namal Tel Aviv. Viki visits the Carmel Market and enjoys local flavors…
Part two: Viki Geunes and Yossi Shitrit share their local knowledge and host a cooking demo for the Israeli chefs and press. Then Viki meets with Marilyn Ambach and while telling her story, she takes him to her favorite spots around Rothschild Boulevard.
Part three: Viki and Marilyn wander around Jaffa and its charm…
You can watch the ATV reruns here and wait for the May edition of Culinary Ambiance…
Thank you: Willem Asaert, Viviane & Viki, Raf de Mot, Walter Schrooten
“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” It was Luciano Pavarotti who once said these words, and he is a wise man. For most of you it might not come as a big surprise, but I love food. I love it so much, I’ve dedicated more than one blog post to it. That’s why the second part of my Antwerp Treasure map is all about: food.
FROM BRUNCH TO DINNER AND BACK AGAIN – Lately I enjoy waking up early on a Saturday morning (i still have to get used to saying that, as my former hobby was sleeping in) and assembling friends and family to go for breakfast in one of the many coffee bars Antwerp has to offer. I remember when I moved to Antwerp about 10 years ago, there weren’t many nice and cosy (and free WiFi-ed) coffee bars as there are now. Or maybe I didn’t know they existed, since I was mostly busy with my other hobby back then (sleeping in, followed by my anti-hobby: running to class). Maybe it’s because I’m getting older, but it seems to me that going for breakfast (or brunch) is becoming a bigger thing than going out all night.
On a Saturday morning it’s always nice to visit the open air market. Since shopping for food on an empty stomach might hurt your wallet (as my mom says), get some breakfast first at Perruche (1). This small restaurant offers a very good breakfast and an even better service. Sweet Laura, that girl knows the drill of running a place! Adding up to the feeling of being at home: her mom occasionally pops in (actually she popped in once and never left) to provide happy customers with toast, special sandwiches, provincial spreads, spaghetti, soup and cake. Fun fact: Perruche, which is the French word for parakeet, used to be a small store which sold – you guessed it – parakeets (and other tiny, noisy birds). If you are a bagel lover I recommend Barnini (2),which is also in the same area (maybe you can try both, who cares about the market, right?!). No parakeets here, only owls. By the way, they have great coffee (in every size and color, with m&m’s on top or a good splash of chocolate sauce). I know because owner Annick used to train me in how to make the perfect coffee.
(1) Perruche – Oude Vaartplaats 60 – 2000 Antwerp (pope-approved)(2) Barnini – Oude Vaartplaats 10 – 2000 Antwerp
Time for lunch! Probably the most well-known place in Antwerp to go for lunch is Lombardia (3). Everybody knows this place, including Sting, Moby and Steve-O! Yes, big artists have fallen in love with Alain Indria’s gluten-free veggie health food love-temple. The interior looks like a huge container filled with pictures, colors, a giant golden bull, more color, graffiti and plants. You always feel sunny California in here and you would almost expect some half naked surfer dude walking in, straight from the beach, board still under his arm (if he ever does, ladies: I saw him first!). I love this place. Alain’s mom, Odette, opened Lombardia in 1972. Back then it was only a health-food shop. The most famous product Alain is serving is without doubt the Ginger Love tea (supposedly Alain came up with Ginger Love at table nr 18 in the back – so for any creative inspiration i suggest you take your lunch at table 18). It’s so good even Starbucks wanted to buy the recipe and the Wall Street Journal tipped Alain’s Ginger Love tea as a must when visiting Antwerp. Other good stuff I think you should try: Beasty Boy sandwich, Hot Mexican Tuna, the Magic Mushroom and Moby’s own Moby Juice.
(3) Lombardia – Lombardenvest 78 – 2000 Antwerp
Check out what Sting has to say about Lombardia:
For the real treasure hunters there is RA Kitchen (4). Located right in between antique shops, you will find this very cool restaurant (which in fact is part of a whole concept fashion store). The dining area alone is worth a visit: a mix between vintage tables, an informal living room lounge area, a mezzanine daybed and (on sunny days) a summer terrace. Ra Kitchen is all about fresh ingredients, a seasonal and eclectic menu, traditional flavours, unconventional methods and a touch of the past. As the Word magazine describes it, it’s a “quiet culinary universe of coolness”. Fun fact: every month, Ra Kitchen invites a special friend or talented individual for an event open to all! Take a look at their Facebook page to stay updated on upcoming events.
(4) RA Kitchen – Kloosterstraat 13 – 2000 Antwerp
Other great places to get your food-groove on:
ULTIMATUM, Grote Markt 8: food, drinks and an occasional GREAT party
CHEZ FRED, Kloosterstraat 83: the best “stoofvlees met frietjes” in town
POTTEKIJKER, Kaasrui 5: for the romantic and nostalgic hearted people
FISKEBAR, Marnixplaats 12: it’s all Fish and all Scandinavian
Special thanks to
Alain Indria (just for being you), Steven Neuman (for countless breakfasts), Romain Brau (for inspiration) and Laura (for two eggs instead of one).
Next episode:
Dance the night away in Antwerp’s nightlife + SPECIAL SURPRISE FOR OUR READERS!
In Flemish they say ‘Liefde gaat door de maag’ – literally translated ‘Love goes through the stomach’ – and yes you can cook your way into capturing love. Wintertime is cocooning time and that means time for new culinary challenges. As Israel’s population consists of 76% Jewish people, Christmas is not as widely celebrated as in the rest of the world. While recently traveling to New York and London, I kept seeing that same cookbook in shops and homes called Jerusalem, without giving it too much attention; until I got my own copy as a Christmas gift.
Yotam Ottolenghi is a culinary star in London, overseeing four restaurants, writing vegetarian columns for The Guardian and a familiar face on BBC tv. Born in Israel not long after the 1967 war, Ottolenghi grew up in Jewish West Jerusalem. After some time in Tel Aviv, he moved to London, took a cooking course at Le Cordon Bleu without any intention for professional cooking; and there he met his later-to-be business partner and co-chef Sami Tamimi. Tamimi grew up in the Muslim neighborhoods of East Jerusalem around the same time. What are the odds: a Jewish Israeli from West Jerusalem, an Israeli Arab from East Jerusalem, meeting in the UK, sharing a passion for the same food despite cultural dissimilarities and together manage to successfully create their own brand of Meditteranean based cuisine. Ottolenghi and Tamimi’s story is inspiring; a sign of hope and a symbol for peace.
Jerusalem: A Cookbook is their third book and was already a bestseller before it even came out. I wanted to prepare diner with a few typical Middle Eastern for my Belgian guests. So we started the preparations: it can begin with sewing your own apron first (yes maybe I’ll post a tutorial for it one day) but let’s stick to shopping for this one. We went out to the Carmel Market in Tel Aviv, where they have the best fruit & vegetables at the best prices. We also got some spices, tea and herbs like Za’atar (Hyssup), Cinnamon, Cumin and Curcuma (Turmeric). In the little streets of the Shuk (market in Hebrew) one can find great food spots for authentic Hummus, Tehina & Shakshuka like at Shlomo & Doron, to cement the stomach. And then it was time to cook; out of 120 recipes in the book I picked a few: I made roasted cauliflower & hazelnut salad (replacing some of the ingredients to my own taste). Then we had stuffed aubergines with lamb & pine nuts (I used minced beef meat instead) with Mejadra (ancient dish with rice, lentils and fried onion). I also added a plain sweet potato puree and some avocado salad. And some fruit for dessert. בתאבון – شهية طيبة
Maybe one day, peace in the world will come through the stomach too…
Chanukah, also known as the Festival of Lights, is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple (the Second Temple) in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt of the 2nd century BCE. Every night, we light the candles of the Hanukiah to commemorate and celebrate the miracle of Light: the Jews only had enough oil to create light for one night, but the miracle made it last for 8 days…
Being a secular Jew doesn’t mean I don’t honor values and follow rituals of the Jewish holidays. Families always gather around a big food table. Family & food. Celebrating the miracle of oil also means eating fried food. While some of us yearn for Sufganyot (they’re like doughnuts and come in various shapes, colors and with many different fillings); some rather eat Latkes (Yiddish word) or Levivot (Hebrew word) which are a kind of potato pancake. Here’s my favorite recipe for you to try at home – thank you Ameloush and thank you Doda Anny from Belgium…
Ingredients:
5 potatoes (big red ones preferably)
1 onion
2 eggs
3 tablespoons self-rising flour
salt, pepper and white pepper
canola oil to fry in
Preparation:
1. Heat +/- 1 to 2 cm of canola oil until boiling and ready to fry
2. Meanwhile, start peeling and grating the potatoes (feel your muscles?)
3. With your hands, squeeze out all the water from the potatoes (very important!)
4. Add the shredded onion, eggs, flour, salt&pepper and mix with a spoon or with your hands
5. Make flat round shapes with your hand/spoon and fry till golden brown 6.Before serving, make sure you use a lot of paper roll to remove as much oil as possible.
7. Bete’avon, you can eat your latkes with sugar, mustard or whatever other weird family ritual you have.
“Put on your Yamakkah, here comes Hanukkah… so much fun-Hakka to celebrate Hanukkah. Hanukkah is the festival of lights… instead of one day of presents, we get eight crazy nights. When you feel like the only kid in town without a Christmas tree, here’s a list of people who are Jewish, just like you and me.
David Lee Roth lights the Menorah, So do James Caan, Kirk Douglas, and the late Dinah Shore-ah. Guess who eats together at the Carnegie deli, Bowzer from Sha-na-na, and Arthur Fonzerrelli. Paul Newman’s half Jewish; Goldie Hawn’ss half too, Put them together–what a fine lookin’ Jew. You don’t need deck the halls or jingle bell rock, cause you can spin the dreidl with Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock-both Jewish!
Put on your Yamakkah, it’s time for Hanukkah… The owner of the Seattle Super Sonic-ahs celebrates Hanukkah. O.j. Simpson- not a Jew… But guess who is…hall of famer Rod Carew-he converted! We got Ann Landers and her sister dear Abby, Harrison fords a quarter Jewish-not too shabby! Some people think that Ebenezer Scrooge is, Well, he’s not, but guess who is: all three Stooges.
So many Jews are in show business… Tom cruise isn’t,but I heard his agent is. Tell your friend veronica, it’s time you celebrate Hanukkah…I hope I get a harmonica, on this lovely, lovely Hanukkah. So drink your gin-and-tonic-ah, and smoke your mara-juanic-ah… If you really, really wanna-kah, have a happy, happy, happy, happy
Hanukkah! Happy Hanukkah!”
Happy Hanukkah…may the light shine… in and around you….
To celebrate Marilyn’s visit to her hometown Antwerp, we decided to make a Middle-Eastern dinner for our friends and family.
An ideal dip for pita bread: a big plate of Hummus and green Tehina, hard boiled eggs, grilled pine nuts with some cumin and sweet paprika powder. Hummus is a food dip or spread made from cooked, mashed chickpeas. Tehina is a paste made from ground, hulled sesame seeds.
This is the home made “Shakshuka” and probably Israel’s most famous dish after Falafel and Hummus. Shakshuka is a dish of eggs poached in a sauce of tomatoes, peppers, and onions. Sometimes with garlic. You can spice it up with some chili peppers. Most Israelis eat it for breakfast with a salad. Contemporary Israeli restaurants play with it and often offer a Green Shakshuka (with spinach, chard, aubergines and feta cheese). This dish knows many stories, recipes and myths. I like this description and recipe by “the Shiksa in the Kitchen” website if you want to try it at home.
I realize that even when describing food it’s hard to avoid politics: this is a chopped “Arab Salad”. The basic recipe includes tomato, cucumber and onion. Often mixed with parsley and combined with the juice of freshly squeezed lemon and olive oil, unlike many Western salads, Arabic salad contains no lettuce. In summer we add fresh mint leaves.
Another important spice in Mediterranean cuisine is called Za’atar. It’s a mixture of sumac, sesame seed and herbs.
And of course: Falafel. Falafel is a deep-fried ball or patty made from ground chickpeas, fava beans, or both. Falafel is usually served in a pita, topped with salads, pickled vegetables, hot sauce, and drizzled with tehina-based sauces. You can make them yourself or buy them at your local supermarket
Becoming a desperate housewife – Stage 1: wake up at 6.30 am on a Saturday to go to the food market with my gluten-free and food market-expert friend Emma. Thankfully, the sun woke up as early as we did and greeted us while having coffee and discussing our market game plan.
The objective: fresh fruit and vegetables (I recently bought a blender, yes, all my friends know cause i can’t stop talking about it – what a useful kitchen tool – and i wanted to buy everything you can possibly blend into a juice or a smoothie), sunflower and pumpkin seeds, olives, etc. Eventually we e spent hours walking around. I get so excited when I see food, I go crazy!
Some pictures:
Exotic Food Market – Antwerp
Oudevaartplaats, Theaterplein and surroundings
Every Saturday from 8am till 4pm (except official holidays)
My ambition in this blog is not necessarily to share every TLV hotspot, neither to be the coolest chick in town. But when it comes to aesthetics, taste and lifestyle, it’s my duty to share. Especially keeping in mind the motivation behind my posts: show you how and why Tel Aviv is such a great city, as opposed to what most prejudiced minds might think. Most of you who haven’t been here wouldn’t believe this is daily life. So here it is, another proof of how hip, hot and happening this city is. It’s called “Delicatessen” and it’s the latest food concept and more by the R2M cooperation. They already have top restaurants (Brasserie, Coffee Bar), hip bars (Rothschild 12), the Bakery, an exclusive catering business and the boutique hotel “Hotel Montefiore”. Every spot they open always excels in style, design, music and smell. These places are here to stay, which is not an evidence here. “Delicatessen”, combines food and wine, groceries and bakery, breakfast and lunch, wine and spirits and all this with the R2M quality label. Enjoy an Italian cafe on the street terrace, buy some Spanish meat and Dutch cheese in the ‘deli’, eat an Israeli shakshuka in the sun; it’s all part of the experience. Enjoy…
Carrying around a bag filled with Polish pickles was not how I imagined visiting Paris during Fashion Week. The Chinese sales girl who sold me a backpack (the paper bag broke somewhere between getting of the train in Gare du Nord and running to the subway-station) looked at me like I was some kind of pickle-maniac. “What it for?” she asked with a heavy Chinese accent. “Oh, it’s for the caterer!” I must have left that girl even more confused than she already was, at least I had a tear resistant way to transport the pickles to their destination: Rue de Saintonge, temporary home to the Ann Demeulemeester showroom.
Marco Migliore, the beloved and praised owner of Caffè Internazionale (Antwerp), known for it’s delicious pastrami, was (once again) asked by BVBA 32, the company behind celebrated Belgian fashion designers Ann Demeulemeester and Haider Ackermann, to take care of the catering for staff, models and of course clients in both their showrooms. Marco is not new to this job, as he already had taken care of catering for the Haider showroom during the last Paris Fashion Week S/S 2012. The first time was a challenge to him. But, being able to dive right into the vibe, Marco quickly found his way around the business. People loved the food and atmosphere he created in the showroom.
This time he feels more prepared, mainly because he knows what is expected of him. Also, he thinks very highly of both Demeulemeester and Ackermann. “I’m a fan of their work. C’est la classe.” That’s why Marco finds it very important to show his love for the designers in his work as well. From the carefully selected menu to the high quality products; everything is highly finished to perfection. To even add some variety, a different “food-theme” is used everyday: Italian, French, Spanish, Jewish-Lebanese and Asian. “To me, Fashion Week is very internazionale”, Marco explains. “You feel the atmosphere of fashion everywhere, not only here in the showroom. Paris is without doubt my favorite city in the world. It’s a dream that I can work in this beautiful city for such great talents and friends, creating that what I love most. I feel truly blessed.”
For all information on catering by Caffe Internazionale:
One thing I love about Antwerp, besides Elixir d’Anvers, is the fact that – wherever you find yourself walking – it surprises you with little cosy places like this one. The “Caravan” (translated: the trailer) is a lunch bar in the north of Antwerp, very close to the Park Spoor Noord, which makes it a number one destination in Summer (in high season you can even have a picnic basket to go).
The area, better known by locals as “Den Dam”, is quite isolated from other areas in town and was recently renovated. For example the Park Spoor Noord, which used to be a large terrain that was owned by the Belgian Railroads for repairing and maintenance of trains, is now renovated into a new green lung of the city. It didn’t take long for restaurants and bars to emerge in this part of town, once economically revolved around old abattoirs (or slaughterhouses).
“Caravan” is decorated with secondhand and vintage-furniture, which gives customers the feeling of being at home. Chairs and tables of different styles and sizes, a cupboard that could’ve been owned by my grandmother, an old armchair, even the tableware makes me feel all nostalgic. The menu offers breakfast formulas with a twist, such as the “hangover breakfast”: a strong breakfast with some aspirin on the side. Lunch also looks delicious: from country food to world kitchen. And everything is as fresh as morning’s dew! “Caravan” obviously deserves a place in my top 5 of favorite breakfast & lunch bars. Oh and did I mention they have cheesecake?
“She graduated high school I bought her a trailer In a little park by the side of the road I could’ve had the Army I could’ve had the Navy But no I had to go for a mobile home”
