Finally there is a place here like the real folk taverns in Greece
The hand on the basic food at the "Greek" is good and loving, the pricing is ridiculous in terms we've gotten used to swallowing here in the last year and the pleasantness is everywhere
My father Efrati
09/29/2022
Thursday, September 29, 2022, 08:30 Updated: 08:32
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The Greek (photo: Asher Habibi)
"Hivaniya" is a food bar that leads Asher Habibi in the Carmel Market for over 11 years.
This is one of the sweet and pleasant places in the market, which is always a safe bet when you want to snack and sip something at the bar, while shopping in the market.
In recent months, Habibi began to operate, completely under the radar, the "Greek" - a food bar in the market in Bezalel, under the subtitle "Alcohol and Fuels".
Plenty of tables in the outdoor square with additional tables inside, white and blue checkered maps, Greek music and pictures with photos from Greece;
It is not the basic and modest design elements that create the sense of authenticity that you immediately feel when you sit down at the Greek.
It's the fact that this is a real place as opposed to a synthetic one.
The owner takes, hosts, cooks, serves and also clears the table.
Well, there's a waitress helping him.
But there is something about "Greek" that reminds of these real folk taverns, which you will find everywhere in Greece.
Not only is the menu not pretentious, it is popular.
It has the immediate suspects from the gas-oil segment (tzatziki, vine leaves, fava and friends), two salads and fish in various versions - from ceviche, through fried calamari and sardines to a spicy meatball stew.
In the drinks section, mini ouzo, Greek beer (mythos), white and red sangria and very basic cocktails are included.
This is not a place where you must eat first and foremost.
You can be satisfied with a drink and a salad or a few mezzets and nothing else.
Padron pepper in Greek (photo: Asher Habibi)
We started with two dishes from the gas station wing:
Padron pepper
(NIS 28) and
Skordalia
(NIS 33) alongside
a Greek salad
(NIS 45).
In the padron dish, there are eight properly seared pepperoni, without under- or over-burning and without the unruly and pungent padron of the spicy type.
The scordelia was moderately dense, bean-like as requested and leaned on the sour side.
Of all this meal, which affected precise hand expressions, this was the least accurate.
The salad, with roughly chopped vegetables like in Greece, as opposed to chopped like in our places, olives, capers and excellent feta, was really good.
Mainly a matter of raw materials.
We continued to the
calamari bruschetta special
(60 shekels).
On two slices of bread rested quite a lot of freshly seared calamari on a Turkish salad with chopped green onions.
It was a magical dish.
The slices of bread were thick and good, with a crackling "hard", the Turkish salad was rich and intensely flavored, homemade as opposed to industrial and delicious-delicious, and the calamari on top was seared to just the right point.
The crispiness of the "kesha", the sponginess of the bread, the intensity of the Turkish salad and the searing seared squid;
All these combined together for a popular dish that the wisdom of the simple and good taste and the loving and precise hand made it a winner.
We went on to another appetizer,
anchovy praline
(NIS 55), and were a little startled by the huge dish that arrived at our table - no appetizers and no shoes.
Lots of anchovies fried in breadcrumbs, with aioli and lemon.
We ordered it because we just wanted to nibble a little more before moving on to the fish, but it was so pleasing that we gave up all their dietary principles.
How simple, how delicious.
Last week
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To the full article
Calamari bruschetta, the wisdom of the simple and good taste and the loving and precise hand made it a winner (Photo: Asher Habibi)
Due to the size of the previous dish, we gave up one of the two fish dishes we ordered, and settled for
a fish meatball stew
(NIS 70) - three meatballs based on mustard, in a really spicy and really tasty tomato sauce.
A homemade dish, popular, not exactly Greek but why be petty.
When we were interested in the desserts of the day, Habibi explained to us that some of the time he makes dessert, but today he didn't really get it.
The waitress directed us to the adjacent ice cream parlor and said that they refer to them and that it is absolutely possible to sit with the ice cream in the restaurant.
That's what we did and the truth is that we were quite sorry.
All four flavors in the two ice cream cones we sampled turned out to be too sweet, problematic in texture, very far from any required basic quality.
A bit of a shame.
Up until now we were definitely satisfied and based on our sample from the Greek we can assume that his dessert was at least nice.
But this does not detract from the general feel of the lovable evening of snacks.
The Greek is a completely sympathetic addition to the landscape.
This is not a place that claims to be a significant player in the scene, but a popular food and sip bar that does not aim high but does the simple and basic really well.
They do not compromise there on the raw materials, which exude freshness.
The hand on the basic food is good and loving, the pricing is ridiculous in terms we've gotten used to swallowing here in the last year and the pleasantness is everywhere.
You will, here is another one joining, this time from a traditional Greek direction, the wave of unpretentious and sympathetic gastronomic bars, which face the street, which has been expanding recently.
Although the layer of knowledgeable reference to wine is missing here, the love for alcohol is very present and even in draft beer they certainly know how to handle it.
As a reviewer who spends most of his time in important restaurants, at least important in their own eyes, I find myself being asked quite a few by acquaintances and in the know to recommend simple and cute places, where you can go out for fun in the evening, drink a lot and eat nice.
Halakha is a trivial, almost banal request;
In fact, a task not entirely possible, because there are few such places.
The Greek is completely like that and you have to keep your fingers crossed for him and for us to stay as he is.
The Greek, Bethlehem 3 Tel Aviv, 050-4429816
invoice:
Padron pepper - 28
Skordalia - 33
Greek salad - 45
Calamari bruschetta - 60
Anchovy praline - 55
Fish meatball stew - 70
Two-thirds draft beer - 50
Half liter draft beer - 29
Total: 370
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