A priori sympathy.
The conquerors (photo: Amir Menachem)
The Conquerors, a restaurant that has been operating for over 14 years on a street corner between the Carmel Market and the Yemeni Vineyard, is one of those places that you automatically want to patronize.
It's not exactly a place that operates under the radar.
For Dari HaKerem and the surrounding area, it is seen as a neighborhood-homey bistro, but none of its captains have ever found interest in the glittering group image, the one that is maintained by most PR in the media and in recent years also among network influencers. It is a place that stays away from any buzz and as such deserves quite a bit of a priori sympathy.
For all of Avi Efrati's food reviews, the
reason for the visit this time was the facelift that was recently announced there. Chef Shai Tana, who leads the food at the place, was joined by members of the Per Dreyer Group - David Abukia and Iti Shalom. In addition to a design and atmospheric facelift, the menu was upgraded and so was the alcohol department. We went there to wonder about the conquerors' jar after the version update, hoping to find a sympathetic neighborhood place, which celebrates the raw materials from the nearby Carmel Market, without much pretension but with talent, good taste and professionalism.
throttle.
The meat cauldron of the conquerors
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The most expensive main stops at NIS 89.
We have already forgotten such a price benchmark.
The truth is that we did not imagine that it was even possible
This is an old place that, even when it was opened, is evident in its modesty and simplicity.
The face lift did not change him dramatically and his basicity is still palpable now.
The interior space is small, the rectangular winter enclosure is a bit larger and there are also several Parisian cafe/bistro tables in the open air, which these days are probably a little less relevant.
The service personnel are also not part of the genre of waiters who try to demonstrate culinary knowledge and sophistication.
The simple-simple is also present here.
The menu has a relatively large salad section, for those who come for a salad and a beer, and an eclectic appetizer section that combines carpaccio-ceviche classics with other classics such as chopped liver and veal almonds.
The eclecticism is also present in the main column.
Along with the inevitable hamburger, schnitzel and chicken skewers, there are a variety of meat and fish dishes that stand out, above all, for their moderate pricing.
With the exception of the beef fillet dish, the most expensive main course stops at NIS 89.
We have already forgotten such a price benchmark.
The truth is that we did not imagine that it was even possible.
Good intentions, yes
This restaurant will succeed, that's for sure.
One improvement is nevertheless needed here
To the full article
The pint of beauty.
The conquerors (photo: Amir Menachem)
We started with seared red tuna (NIS 75), which came from the salad section and veal almonds in a plancha (69) from the starters section, in addition to Caucasian bread with dips (41).
before the bread.
He was relatively large.
He lacks not with such pricing.
Its quality was only reasonable and the dips that came with it - watery tahini, medium or lower pickled lemon, medium matuba and a reasonable turshi - are not convincing at all and also too few.
There were quite a few thin pieces in the seared red tuna dish, four in number, that were seared in a coriander seed crust.
The main part of the dish was basically a salad, quite large, based on lots of lettuce, green beans, baked potato, roasted pepper and a hard-boiled egg.
It was actually a salad that corresponded with the worlds of Niceoise.
The tuna itself was not bad at all and remained red and beautiful inside.
The other components radiated fatigue.
The sprouts didn't feel very fresh, the green beans were bland and so was the potato.
The sauce, the one that should make the difference in dishes of this type, was coarse and excessive and prevented the combination from becoming something fresh and happy.
There aren't many things more satisfying than seared veal knuckles.
All that is needed is to burn them properly and serve alongside a refreshing side dish.
The veal almonds, which came in a generous dose, successfully delivered the goods.
Rocket leaves (fresh) and potatoes (tired) came alongside.
It was absolutely beautiful, just a shame that this is where the pint of beauty in the meal began and ended.
price moderation.
The account in the occupiers (photo: ShutterStock)
The anti-kosher chatters in the talkbacks are welcome to stop their keyboards right now.
No, it's absolutely not true that the kosher steak hasn't been born yet.
In any case, he didn't come to her book
We continued with sea fish fillet (89) and meat casserole (82).
When reading the menu, we marveled at the fact that a fish fillet dish is priced at NIS 89.
When it arrived, we realized that it was one bream filet, not big at all, sitting on white sweet potato gnocchi, which is the main part of the dish.
It is true that NIS 89 for a gnocchi dish with a fish fillet is not a lot of money, but if we had understood that it was actually a gnocchi dish with some fish, we might not have chosen it.
Gnocchi or fish, the culinary failure stood out in every parameter.
The fish was seared a little too hard and was a little too dry.
The sweet potato gnocchi were downright amateurish and exuded that untalented and inexperienced kind of homeliness.
Such was also the lemon butter sauce, which deepened the feeling of amateurism in an additional unfortunate dimension.
The stew of meat, wine and root vegetables next to puree did not take the event anywhere higher or just more reasonable.
The pieces of meat were not softened enough and had an unfortunate amount of viscosity.
The stew liquids that came with them lacked the touch of depth of a cauldron at its best and the puree did nothing good.
If the fish fillet in the lemon butter sauce reminded me of amateur home cooking, the meat casserole evoked an association with a working-class restaurant of the very bad kind.
This is not how we imagined the food would look when we sat down and looked at the sympathetic menu.
With the exception of the veal almonds, which were a raw material that was handled undisturbed, the rest of the food revealed a completely failed kitchen.
The tiramisu (40) that we shared for dessert may not have been as bad as the fish or the casserole, but it wasn't high quality either.
He mentioned more than any nineties dishes in Tel Aviv restaurants.
We came here and we wanted, we really wanted, to praise a local, neighborhood and modest bistro, which we hoped also had other qualities.
How much we wanted to tell that we finally found that place, that we are looking for with candles, and it is right here, not exactly under the radar as mentioned but also without a bright spotlight.
But what we found in the occupiers is a sloppy, outdated, graceless kitchen with too much food that most of the time falls far below average, poor quality.
The 376 shekels we left for the food, before drinks and service (560 inclusive), do not represent a typical order here.
We probably ordered more than the average double table leaves there, mostly to sample enough, for the sake of this list.
But the fact that it is not expensive does not make it good.
In an era where restaurants become generic and tiresome and lose dimensions of character, one should look for modest, personal and good places in candles.
The conquerors should and pretends to be there, but culinary, at least at the moment, it is not endowed with any of the good qualities of restaurants of this type.
We will not return.
"The Conquerors", 48 Conquerors, Tel Aviv, 03-5108555
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