This place is full of magic, we have to wait for this magic to stick to the food as well
We had a rather fun evening at Pygmy, pleasant service, good music, great decor and full of good intentions, so where's the problem?
My father Efrati
04/08/2022
Thursday, 04 August 2022, 07:20 Updated: 07:23
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The new Pigam in Ein Hod (Photo: Noam Frisman)
The new Pigam restaurant, which opened a few months ago in the picturesque Ein Hod, was portrayed as a true promise.
The cuisine there, the restaurant advertises, is based on local ingredients such as fish and seafood from the nearby Carmel beach, seasonal harvests from the mountain and work with regional growers.
The dishes are characterized by Middle Eastern flavors and are served in a historic stone building.
And that's it, it's been clear for quite some time that the artists' village of Ein Hod in Carmel is a hidden and sought-after gem.
The kind where food countries with a real tradition would have already had some great restaurants pop up;
And with us it doesn't happen.
How happy that entrepreneurs who come in good ways raise a place like this.
In charge of the kitchen at Pigam was chef Dan Zoertz, known to diners and Tel Aviv diners as the one who led Delida for quite a few years.
When it was in good condition, it was excellent;
In the future, it will also be less good, but there is no questioning Zoertz's abilities, and the new Pigam appeared as a true promise.
There is no entry for cars in Ein Hod.
The walk from the parking lot to the restaurant takes 4 minutes.
Most of the restaurants in Tel Aviv walk more than that from the parking lot, but when it happens outside the city there are those who treat it as an annual trip.
There is an artist's village atmosphere in the mountain, one that on hot days is a little less reminiscent of similar villages in Provence;
Well, a little at least.
The restaurant is located above the Ein Hod Amphitheatre, the one where concerts are held on weekends.
It overlooks the Carmel and at dusk it is very beautiful.
An open kitchen and a tiny interior space with very few tables are in Pygmy, while the rest of the tables are located on the beautiful balcony, immersed in greenery and flowers.
In terms of atmosphere, there is no doubt that they succeeded here.
is very.
Even looking at the menu evokes a feeling of something good.
Only small and medium dishes, first and intermediate dishes, in which the connection to the land, locality and seasonality is very evident.
A cute arak menu and next to it a tight but thoughtful wine menu and sane pricing.
All these establish a sense of trust.
There is no doubt that we have reached a place that is completely good.
Opening a table of maztims (photo: Noam Frisman)
There were four of us.
The menu is not large and the portions are small so we ordered most of it.
From the side of the appetizers arrived at the table
Pigam bread and yogurt
(NIS 24),
plowed salad
(NIS 32),
organic hummus
(NIS 26),
savida in Khaviaj
(NIS 36) ,
pul
(NIS 26),
okra stew in a box
(NIS 32),
pickled beet
(NIS 42) and
fish patties
(NIS 36).
It was a sort of opening of a table of Mazats, with Mazats, most of them almost all declaring a true investment.
The true test of such mezets is the number of times that dishes from them manage to produce some sort of "tasty" experience, as opposed to being engulfed in a mixture of flavors.
From this test, the dishes we ordered turned out to be nothing.
The plowed salad, an ancient local vegetable that combines zucchini and cucumber in its taste, was completely casual, with no significant differentiation to the taste of the vegetable, a significant flavor additive from the Tulum cheese and a notable chef's touch.
The hummus was one of the odd ones we tasted, homemade in the bad sense.
The pul ("boiled for five days") and El Manal grinding was reasonable at best.
The okra stew in Mergaz Keren has a notable lack of uniqueness.
The pickled halibut couldn't do it either.
Only two dishes were less problematic: savida in Khaviaj and a fish patty, based on sea bass and whitefish, in red sauce.
It's not like they were really good or elicited any wow appeal.
They were just "okay".
We didn't fall for this gray banality when we got here and looked at the menu.
We hoped, very much, for a change of trend in the section of intermediate dishes.
We went on
Asparagus in burnt pepper sauce
(NIS 54),
small bloody quiches
(NIS 52),
lamb fillet
(NIS 58) and
faba octopus
(NIS 88).
Was it better?
It's probably more accurate to say it was less bad.
The asparagus came in a sauce of burnt peppers and salty granola.
They were "okay".
Also the bloody quince, in lemony tomato butter, wild sage chips and dried yogurt.
The one halibut fillet, with carrot cream and pepper and lemon salsa was reasonable and the octopus dish with charred tomato and eggplant and sea stock sauce and yogurt was a little better.
Unlike the first ones, some of which were a little disgusting, here there were no paki, but with the exception of the octopus, which two of the four diners at the table noted as tasty, the others flew by without causing any protest or damage, but also without us really noticing that this or that culinary event was happening now.
The word that surrounds the food stimulates the taste buds.
The intentions are good.
The investment is real.
No one here is trying to go for the crappy cuisine.
Everything is good to do good, only that what we have eaten so far has not really been able to do any good to four diners who liked the location and the vibe and also came in good, full of good will to enjoy.
Last week
In our current life circumstances, this place is nothing less than a miracle
To the full article
Lamb fillet with carrot cream and pepper salsa (Photo: Noam Frisman)
For dessert we shared
a Greek orange cake
(NIS 38) and
a cold lemony geranium soup with homemade halvah and pieces of crispy dough
(NIS 36).
The orange cake reminded the people at the table that they grew up on Ashkenazi Kegel food.
It wasn't a Kegel but those who grew up on this noodle pie will understand the association.
In any case, Kegel or not, this dessert, which in its appearance reminded at all Jachanon, was not successful at all.
The lemony geranium soup had a good texture but suffered from too much sweetness and too high a concentration of geranium, which, together with its sweetness, evoked a somewhat disgusting association when it comes to food, to scented sprays.
The evening itself passed in many pleasant ways.
The young waitresses were lovely.
The music is good.
The great setting and the good intentions added a dimension.
So Pygmy is undoubtedly a place full of charm, only too little of that charm, if any, comes down to the food.
We didn't eat badly or terribly, so no one suffered or complained.
But in the end, from a culinary point of view, it was an event of the lmlam genre - not harmful but not exactly helpful either. Less than NIS 600 for four people is not a lot of money. On the other hand, these many small dishes did not add up in terms of mass to a full and satisfying meal . To get to this you had to eat more and spend more. This still does not make Pigam an expensive place. The prices are fair but it is important to understand that the bottom line of the price of this meal is not an accurate reflection of the cost profile for the hungry in Pigam.
In his better phases at Delida, Zoertz was signed to less pretentious but much tastier food.
It seems to me that a little less pretentiousness and a little more connection to the land in the simple sense, of feet on the ground, will only do good for the food in Pygmy.
At the moment it is clearly inadequate.
Pigam, Ein Hod Amphitheatre, 054-6833330
invoice:
Pygmy bread - 24
Plowed salad - 32
Hummus - 26
Paul - 26
Okra stew in Margaz - 32
Pickled levat - 42
Fish meatballs - 36
Sabida in Khwajaj - 36
Asparagus - 54
Zucchini - 52
Filet of lamb - 68
Octopus - 88
Geranium soup - 36
Cake Oranges - 38
Saluting fees - 55
Total: NIS 643
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