Israeli flavor bomb: Shiral Berger and OPA won the "One To Watch" title of 50 Best - voila! Food

"Very exciting".

Berger (Photo: Tomer Halperin)

The annual ceremony of MENA's 50 Best Restaurants is only expected to take place in about two weeks, but warming up its engines today (Thursday) provides a very happy international-Israeli announcement, in the form of chef Shiral Berger and his Tel Aviv restaurant OPA winning the "One To Watch" award.

The coveted title - a more prestigious and more global version that is both the "promise of the year" and the "breakthrough of the year" and the "rising star of the year", all together and why not actually?

- will be delivered to the burger on January 30 as part of the second edition of the Middle Eastern and North African culinary celebration, which will be held in Abu Dhabi under the auspices of San Pellegrino.

"It is very exciting to receive proper recognition," Berger responded while expressing pride in her team, "OPA works and creates and influences culinary in Israel and around the world, and we are all happy that the honest and true agenda for which we gathered - empowering and glorifying the kingdom of plants and mushrooms in the world of haute cuisine - has won us the award."

A move that was and remains amazing.

OPA (Photo: Tomer Halperin)

Berger was born in Jerusalem and entered the kitchen from a young age, encouraged by her parents.

Years later, she packed her passion for cooking in a suitcase and made her way to the United States, and upon graduating from the Culinary Institute of America (CIA), worked in several restaurants in New York.

In 2018, she opened OPA in the Levinsky market in Tel Aviv, channeling her talent to create a unique and original food establishment that deals only with vegetables and fruits, emphasizing sustainability and reducing food waste, growing a large part of its own produce on the urban roof garden above it, and working closely and thoroughly with producers and small, local, dedicated farmers.

All of these added up to a move that was perceived then - and even today, to be honest, as nothing less than amazing.

For the first time

Six Israeli restaurants on the prestigious BEST 50 list

To the full article

The agenda for which we gathered.

OPA

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by opa_tlv (@opa_tlv)

"OPA invites guests to immerse themselves in the world of vegetables and embark on a sensual and delightful culinary journey"

Accordingly, Opa quickly differentiated itself from Israel's sometimes frenetic and aggressive food market, maintaining an understated elegance and confidence, and constantly offering, quite simply, a place to eat something and drink something that is a little different.

Berger's tasting menu currently includes ten plant-based dishes, prepared using both ancient and modern techniques, including "potato" (potato whipped cream, burnt potato cheese, potato sourdough), turnip with miso sauce, beetroot with fermented mushroom stock and "paquila" ", and also "Caramel Artichoke" (Jerusalem artichoke ice cream and Jerusalem artichoke toffee) and "Mind Pack" brownies (Israeli wheat ice cream, blueberry liqueur, almond miso, smoked date cider) for dessert.

"Berger has created a one-of-a-kind space at OPA," described William Drew, 50 Best's content manager, "from the moment you enter through the restaurant's doors, it invites guests to immerse themselves in the world of vegetables and embark on a sensual and delightful culinary journey,

One of a kind.

OPA (Photo: Aviv Shakuri)

Last year, the restaurant ranking surveyed for the first time fifty outstanding food destinations from 19 countries in the Middle East and Africa, including Morocco, Iran, Oman and Israel.

It reflects the best restaurant experiences collected from 250 voters - anonymous culinary experts from around the region.

At the same event, six Israeli restaurants were selected for the prestigious list - Melgo and Melber led by Moti Titman, Pescado in Ashdod by Yehi Zino, Animar by Hillel Tavkoli, the Basta in the Carmel Market, George and John by Tomer Tal and OCD by Raz Rahab, which reached to the third place.

"When we got to the last ten," Rahav said after the ceremony, "I started crying from excitement. It's not just getting into the list of the fifty best restaurants. It's getting into the top ten."

About a month ago, Salem Dekak ​​was crowned the best chef in the region.

Dekak, a Palestinian born in Jordan, is the chef and owner of the successful Bait Maryam restaurant in Dubai.

From her kitchen, it was explained in the announcement announcing her win, she manages to preserve traditional foods and authentic cooking methods, and recreate the real flavors of the Levant that she grew up with as a child in Jordan.

"Her sense of obligation to preserve the essence of each dish leads her to find raw materials from different places in the region, to emphasize quality produce and unique spices and above all, to prepare food with love," he described.

• Food

• The food news

Tags

• Shiral Berger

• OPA

• vegan food