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The muezzin started, we came to life: a magical visit to one of the best restaurants in Israel

We were a little scared to get in the car and drive here, but life here must be more than a few days of riots and hatred

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• Sama

• Acre

• Sweetie Okla

• Acre Market

Avi Efrati

Thursday, 08 July 2021, 06:00 Updated: 06:51

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Sama Lounge Bar in Old Acre (Photo: Ziv Reinstein, Editing: Nir Chen)

On the way to Acre from the center, and of course in the minutes of walking from the parking lot outside the walls to the heart of the Old City, it was impossible not to deal with what happened here just a few weeks ago.

And since this is a column that deals with restaurants, let’s assume the kinds of musings that are required and focus on that - our hearts are broken over the restaurants of Acre, Jews as well as Arabs;

Those whose restaurant burned down and those who did not, but whose business was hijacked for a long time.

To the delicious Instagram page of Walla!

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Didn't fear creep in, after we booked a table in Sama and closed that we were traveling?

Yes, a little at least.

Did we experience a hint of hostility or were we apprehensive during the walk towards the restaurant?

No.

So the demon is back in the bottle but businesses in Acre are far from feeling normal.

Friday evening, a time when it is usually crowded in Old Acre, and the streets are mostly Arab.

Also in the restaurant.

Let Sama go up

Muhammad of Acre saw the fire up close.

Now he wants to fix

To the full article

Our hearts are broken.

Old Acre from the roof of Sama (Photo: Walla !, Yaniv Granot)

Sama was opened during the corona by restaurateurs Marwan and Hamudi Barghout, the owners of El Marsa Restaurant, which has been operating for several years in the Old City.

The kitchen has been led by the rock star of Arab restaurants in recent years - Chef Hamudi (Ahmed) Okla.

Okla, who began his career as a cook in reputable restaurants in Tel Aviv and danced on screen with great success in one of the "Chef's Games" dormitories, has become a particularly hot name in the scene in recent years.

During his two terms as a leading chef - at Magdalena (at the Migdal junction) and at Italiano de la Costa (in Haifa) - sparks flew in the kitchen.

So, aside from the coefficient of complexity derived from the "situation", we came to Sama with more than just an expectation.

Beauty of a place

Perhaps the best new restaurant in Tel Aviv

To the full article

A particularly promising blend.

Sama (Photo: Afik Gabay)

The design of this "Rooftop" is not signed by a design firm.

This is the setting that does it, and it's really spectacular

Sama is more of a dining bar than a restaurant, and its location is no less perfect - on a rooftop in the Old City, between the roofs of houses and mosques, in front of the harbor and the sea. The description of the magic that spreads to the eyes as soon as you sit down cannot be overstated. There is a large rectangular bar next to tables, synthetic grass on the floor and loud Arab electronic pop in the background; But the design of this "Rooftop" is not signed by a design firm. This is the setting that does it, and it's really spectacular.

The menu is divided into first, intermediate and main courses, based on products from the Acre market. In terms of fish and seafood, the best fish in Israel can be found in Acre. The food base is Arab-Shami, with dishes that everyone is familiar with from Arab cuisine such as arais, kuba, shawarma and more.

There are vegetarian and meat dishes, but most of the raw materials come from the sea.

The cooking techniques combine tradition with modern restaurants, some even from the elite kitchen.

This means that Okla Spiced at Sama Blend is particularly promising.

When the food starts to arrive, it gradually becomes clear that this is one of the most brilliant kitchens operating in Israel today, no less.

Istanbul in Tel Aviv

Kebab close to perfection and service far from the kebab

To the full article

A masterpiece for the connection between the traditional and the upper.

Okla (Photo: Afik Gabay)

For a long time I did not come across such good tomatoes as those that were in the tomato salad

We came in four, armed with symbolic pink champagne from home. Not in noise and ringing though, but we celebrated. After so long we deserve it. Before removing the cork, we started with cocktails, based on ouzo (Jansson), gin (gin baladi) and whiskey (Old Fashion) which were made flawlessly.

We started with bread and dips (NIS 24) and three starters, to be divided: tomato salad with shanklish (42), fish tartare (54), Kuba Nia fish (56).

It started well already with the portion of bread and dips, which arrived first and was quickly eliminated with the cocktails. The sesame bread was hot and fresh, the olive oil (with hyssop and garlic) was amazing, the black olives were excellent and so was the Turkish hamra spread, based on peppers and nuts.

For a long time I did not come across such good tomatoes as those that were in the tomato salad. The Shanklish cheese is made by Okla in the restaurant and is great. There were also macadus, a delicately pickled eggplant and a drizzle of olive oil and mint. It was a great salad.

The cubes in the Cuba Nia dish were based on burgul with arisa flip-flops, and were served with thin, excellent chunks of sea bass, mini-leaves and touches of pomegranate concentrate and sheep yogurt.

The sour, salty and fluffy be sure to be extra restrained and leave room for the delicate, fine pieces of fish.

It was a dish that is a masterpiece for the connection between the traditional and the upper.

The fish tartare, based on red palmida, was a variation on patosh, with vegetables (tomato, cucumber, onion), mint, sumac and a sort of homemade cracker on top.

As in the tomato salad dish, the vegetables said poetry.

As in Cuba Niya - the game between a traditional seasoning touch and refining the raw material has maintained all the balances.

Another great starter.

This is not just a recommendation, this is a warning

In this place go * only * for the pizza

To the full article

Power alongside restraint.

Sama (Photo: Afik Gabay)

How many dishes that are similar or correspond to the one described here have you encountered?

Lots.

None of them reach the ankles in the quality of the materials, exactly, in the balances, in the effect on the palate

The sequel was no less good. We went for four intermediate courses - purple calamari in plancha (64) fish shawarma (74), fish arais (72) and shrimp in arak butter (77) - and one main: fish fillet in friki (109).

The purple calamari dish at the plancha included all the immediate suspects of the genre - spinach masbaha, chickpeas, tahini, yogurt, roasted tomatoes, garlic confit, olive oil and lemon. How many dishes that are similar or correspond to the one described here have you encountered? Lots. None of them reach the ankles in the quality of the materials, exactly, in the balances, in the effect on the palate.

Shawarma and arais are ostensibly some of the most banal dishes served in Israel. We have already met them in fish versions as well. But these dishes were so impressive, the like of which we have never really encountered. It was easy to fall into uniformity of flavors, only in a different structure, but the two dishes were clearly different from each other.

The arais dish carried the seasoning for flavors more familiar than meat dishes and it included three-thirds pita, stuffed in a chopped sea bar, flanked by saucers with dips, bloody tomatoes, bacdonsia and pepper salsa. In the shawarma, chunks of seafood sat on pita with roasted eggplant, confit onion, tahini, bhart, parsley, purple onion and sumac. The flavors took more in the direction of a refined ambala. Both dishes had power alongside restraint, supremely raw ingredients and a great hand.

The shrimp portion contained a quantity of crystal of a type we would not expect to find at such a pricing, saffron vintage, with arak and butter, alongside garden peas and stone. This is where Okla's mastery of contemporary techniques was revealed. The axis was no less than perfect. The shrimp, now it was no longer a surprise, were amazing and the whole dish was wonderfully balanced.

And since the text so far has been laden with descriptions of superlatives, I will narrow it down and say only that we also wonderfully enjoyed the main sea fillet on a smoked discharge with tehini, yogurt, arisa, pickled lemon, wild spinach leaves and squid.

So we ate a lot of particularly good food - nonchalant and easy in theory but invested from the foundation to the taps in fact.

With a lot of thought and indescribable mass of talent and execution ability, he managed not to fall for a moment into clichés.

Do not learn from mistakes

Eric Kaiser has not yet landed here.

After this meal he's not sure he should

To the full article

Tour de Force.

Sama (Photo: Afik Gabay)

We also shared Challah El Gavan (44) and Sabosa (43) and discovered good but less brilliant desserts than anything that preceded them.

El Chaban Challah is a dish based on semolina dough with Arabic cheese, ricotta cream, pistachio, honey and rose water.

The basbosa also had garnish, goat yogurt ice cream, semolina crumble and cinnamon.

Had these sweets come after just a good meal, we would have felt a turn with them.

Since they came after a Tour de Fores of a kind we have not long remembered as such, they left a sense of decline.

No, it did not really obscure everything that was before.

Tel Aviv flop

On the first visit there were alarms, missiles and a mess here.

It was better than the second time

To the full article

Unparalleled beauty.

Sama (Photo: Ziv Reinstein, Ziv Reinstein)

The first checklist after the corona break in this section was from the excellent Sahara Palace restaurant, by Chef Nashat Abbas.

Okla's Sama joins her and together they mark - perhaps, I wish - the beginning of a renaissance of the highest Arab restaurants in Israel.

When it was time for the muezzin, the jubilant music in Sama was stopped.

It was a special and magical moment, with unparalleled beauty.

We launched glasses after him in the hope of regaining sanity and lots of good food, Jewish and Arab.

It will take time for the Arab restaurants here to recover but it is clear that this will happen.

Life has its power, there is no other choice and all that.

Sama, one of the most equal culinary creations we have encountered in Israel for a long time, must stick a deep stake in the ground for a long time.

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