Restaurant of the Year, Disappointment of the Year and Street Food of the Year: Summary 2021
The recent closure may now seem like a distant dream, but the impact of the corona and closures could be felt well in the past year.
So how do you sum up a year like this?
Let's try
Yael Laor
31/12/2021
Friday, 31 December 2021, 00:00
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The restaurant in question (Photo: Alon Mesika)
The spoken opening of the year: a
The opening of Yuval Ben Neria's restaurant a was postponed so much from the original design, which only made it more intriguing, and probably also the perfect antithesis to the spirit of the time. The year 2021 brought with it not easy changes for the local culinary scene, there are almost no grandiose openings here anymore, the industry has taken a pretty serious hit, and it will take some more time for it to recover from it. But all of these do not exist in a, which was opened with an extraordinary investment of NIS 12 million. Or as Avi Efrati put it in his review of the place "When you enter the gates of the new a, which is professionally led by chef Yuval Ben Neria, it all seems like a thing of the past.
In the coming year, Bite will screen a docu-movie called "The Best Restaurant in Israel" that accompanies Chef Yuval Ben Neria during the Corona plague while setting up and opening the restaurant in question.
With a solid financial base behind it, and a waiting list without being possible, if we have one sure bet it is that Restaurant a will stay with us well into next year, and much more after that.
More on Walla!
The local food scene - Post Corona: more focused, more modest and without manpower
To the full article
Uri Jeremias, looking ahead (Photo: Walla! NEWS system, Nimrod Saunders)
The saddest event of the year: the burning of the Uri Buri and Mercato restaurants in Acre
There are not many symbols in Israel for real and daily coexistence like the city of Acre.
It only became more tragic the events of last May.
Violent incidents across the country apparently culminated in a night of riots in Acre during which Uri Burmi's Uri Buri restaurant, which has existed in the old city of Acre for 24 years, was completely burnt down, as well as the Effendi Hotel he owns.
That night, the Italian Mercato restaurant, which was located in the Turkish bazaar in the city, also burned down.
In an interview then, Jeremiah said "the damage is great but I am not angry, anger inhibits. I did not recognize the attackers because they were masked, but there are enough good people in Acre who came to lend a hand."
It will be an exciting closing circle for the book, because these days the Uri Buri restaurant has reopened, for a run, after the restoration of the ruins, and will soon be officially opened to the general public.
We promise to come and support.
Aviela's croissants in Ashdod (Photo: Shiran Cohen Shai)
Trend of the year: Bakeries
Apparently it was the corona that ignited in all of us the endless craving for hot and sweet carbs, because without a doubt the past year has been marked by bakeries.
Bakeries have opened here this year like mushrooms after the rain, and for the coveted pastry we agreed this year to stand in line quite a bit if need be.
While the restaurants had to stay closed for a long time, the bakeries actually received a permit to stay open, which apparently gave quite a few bakers motivation to try their luck, and it can be said that the experiment was successful.
Amita, Alon Shavu, Alexander, Pop & Pop Bakery, these are just some of the names that opened this year in Tel Aviv.
To these will be added quite a few excellent bakeries that are flourishing in the north of the country, more or less new, and even one that is especially in demand in Ashdod.
And it can be said without a doubt that this was the year of the great croissant.
Walt's Apostles (Photo: Reuben Castro)
Disappointment of the year: Walt's customer service
Service in general when it comes to local cuisine is a pretty sensitive point in the past year.
The soft underbelly of almost all restaurants is the problematic service.
But it was Walt, of whom we have become so accustomed to so well, who particularly frightened us this year.
Walt's courteous service personnel have recently been replaced by an auto-response only, and it is not possible to actually pass a complaint in an orderly fashion, or write what is on our hearts in free text, but only out of a choice of built-in options.
After getting used to great service, to compensating when something goes wrong, recently we find ourselves repeatedly disappointed and desperate for the problematic service.
In their despair.
The popular Amphora Winery (Photo: Nimrod Bachar)
The ultimate pastime of the year: Wineries
It started already during the closure period, even when the restaurants were closed, suddenly spending time in the wineries became the hottest thing.
Families, couples, or groups of friends, all started spending time in wineries.
The Corona has made us all avid wine consumers anyway, add to that open spaces, lots of green in the eyes, photogenic cheese platters and tastings of as many wines as possible, there is nothing wrong with that.
This is the ultimate pastime, which we are sure will continue to accompany us next year as well.
By the way, under this category it is worth mentioning also the local food tours, which have become especially popular this year.
Uriel Kimchi in New Rohan (Photo: Anatoly Michaelo)
Matchmaking of the year: Chefs and hotels
We only dealt with this recently, following the opening of Rohan under the direction of Chef Uriel Kimchi at the Brown Hotel in Jerusalem.
It only joined Assaf Granit, who opened Lotte at the Gali Kinneret Hotel in Tiberias, and Tomer Agai with Chena at the Brown Theodore Hotel in Tel Aviv. Arish at the Mendele and Meir Adoni Hotel with Mali Melo at Hotel Bobo. It seems that in Israel of 2021 the connection between a successful chef and a hotel is a matter of urgency. A ridiculous bet that next year we will see more and more such matchmaking.
And we have shawarma (Photo: Ziv Gerty)
Street food of the year: Shawarma
Yes, this year too, as every year, a pizza was opened here, and another pizza, a hamburger and another hamburger and another hamburger.
Each has its own place, and its justification.
But in our sense, after years of sophistication in the street food sector, and exhausting attempts to invent the wheel, there was actually a return to the base, the one and only wheel that does not need to be reinvented, because it is perfect as it is.
And we're talking about the shawarma wheel of course.
Abu Adam shawarma in Qalansawa coming out of the ground, Gertie Donner in the Carmel market, Avi Levy's shawarma in Jerusalem and Babajim's shawarma that was stuck in Tel Aviv just before the end of the year, all of which proved that with all due respect to American street food .
Yakimono sushi, one of the finest we knew (Photo: Walt)
Closures of the year: Yakimono, Safra and Segev Art
We admit that our outbursts of rage about closing places in the current year have not been entirely accurate.
We feared more restaurants would close here.
It could be a matter of time, that quite a few restaurants are working on the latest savings and more will have surprising falls.
That another closure (which we hope will not come), will finally collapse the industry even so shaky.
And yet, three old restaurants have closed this year.
Segev Art, of Chef Segev Moshe, who closed his flagship restaurant after 17 years of operation, admitted that although he closes it during a good period of the restaurant, the Corona has had a negative impact.
Avi Conforti's birdie also closed this year after 15 years, and Yakimono in Rothschild closed doors this year for the last time after no less than 21 years of great sushi, which maintained a high standard, which is no small matter.
And even if not directly, it's hard to ignore the consequences of the difficult two years on the old restaurants.
Hopefully 2022 will be better.
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