Fuel for the soul: this place has tremendous potential, but it misses out

Despite the stigma about food at gas stations, David Rosenthal visited "Pita Besher" in Rishon Lezion.

The start was good, but he left with mixed feelings, and not precisely because of the quality

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Food

08/16/2022

Tuesday, August 16, 2022, 08:29

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The potential is there.

Meat pita (photo: Haim Yosef)

Over the years I try to avoid eating at gas stations, a kind of old fixation that is partially justified.

After all, if you think gourmet, there are few to almost no places that will provide you with a complete experience, one that you can proudly announce.

And in general, a restaurant in a gas station is so eighties, and not necessarily one of the positive symbols of this strange decade.

On the other hand, when it comes to fast food, such a place is a perfect platform for refueling not only the car, but also the empty stomach.

Let's be honest: when you come to eat a meat dish in a pita, the word "gourmet" is not exactly what comes to your mind and anyway it is a stopover.

So why not, actually?

At a gas station?

So what?

Meat pita (photo: David Rosenthal)

The Masada gas station is located on Plotitsky Street in the old industrial area of ​​Rishon LeZion.

It is a modest station, but spacious and clean.

In its left corner is a small eatery called "Pita Besher".

It was only after I dined there that I found out that it is a chain with seven branches, two of which are located in the wine city, but even without this information the place seems quite inviting to me.

I went in and it was empty.

It was 12:30 in the afternoon.

The thought that went through my head is that the stigma is probably justified and the whole universe thinks like me - you just don't go into a place that serves food at a gas station, what's more, this particular area of ​​Rishon Lezion is also bursting with fast food restaurants.

There was only a minor problem with this theory: seconds after I put it in my head, a human swarm entered and filled the place and once again proved that sometimes the positive thought is the right one.

I suddenly felt lucky.

If I had to wait in line behind them instead of being in front of them, I would have added a good few more minutes of waiting.

As is the best tradition, I took one dish for my wife and one for me, because two are better than one, especially when you come to write a review.

I chose a mix of liver and kebab with grilled onion chips and she ordered a mix of chicken and kebab in a pita loaded with goodness.

Both dishes cost NIS 45.

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The tahini is good, the kebab is excellent, the chicken?

A little less (Photo: Haim Yosef)

Let's start with the "surroundings": the place is very clean, the raw materials are excellent, the pita is firm but also soft, the onion is great and adds to the taste, and the grinding is excellent.

As for the meat, we both agreed that the kebab was excellent, but we both also thought that the second skewer in the mix was problematic.

As for my dish, the liver was just too generic, no saltiness and no added value.

It wasn't bad, it's just a heavy skewer with very minimalistic seasoning.

In the context of my wife's pullet it was more problematic - it was not clean, tendons and capillaries were sticking out from all sides and to be honest, when the skewer was spread in front of me I could already recognize the problem in it, but I thought maybe my eyes were deceiving me.

She testified that they were not.

Another problem lies in the portion size.

I'm not kidding myself - today each pita costs NIS 45 or more, but when you take a dish called "Pita Mix" with two skewers, which costs more than the conventional dishes in a restaurant, you expect to leave with a certain level of satiety.

The portion was much smaller than expected, and if I thought at first that I was screwing up the system (after all, a pita with two skewers should cost a minimum of NIS 55), the reality is what knocked on my door.

I got a reasonably sized portion at a good price.

Is this pita worth the money?

This is not the deal I thought it would be and I certainly did not come to my satisfaction.

First it was empty, then it was filled.

Meat pita (photo: David Rosenthal)

The experience from "meat pita" was mixed.

This is a clean, inviting and overall very solid place in relation to a diner, certainly not one that makes you stay away from it "because it's at a gas station", on the contrary.

It is also likely that if you choose the right meat (for example, like the wonderful kebab or pita slices entrecote which I understand is one of the recommended) you will leave with a more complete experience.

I was bothered by the fact that the second half of the mix wasn't amazing, but even more so - that in the end this pita felt like an appetizer and nothing more.

Therefore, I cannot be unequivocal with the recommendation.

Would I stop there again?

Yes, but not at all costs.

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• meat

• Street food

• Pita

• Rishon Lezion