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What the sea gave - voila! Food

2023-02-17T08:47:45.123Z


The El Marsa restaurant in the city of Acre is launching a special fisherman's menu for the winter of 2023, based on family recipes and food that the fishermen ate at home. All the details in Walla's article! Food >>


The panoramic glass window that surrounds the Almarsa restaurant was erected more than ten years ago, one must assume, on the basis of a sufficiently solid construction of bricks and concrete, and on a much larger infrastructure of optimism.



Ten steps - no more, probably even less as the crow flies - separate that glass and the water from which it draws its strength and beauty.

"Aerial line", because there is no way you will be able to connect these two points to one straight line of motion.

There are high piles of construction materials and countless fishing nets of one degree or another of retirement, dust that can hide all the blue with the right wind and enough garbage to wonder if it is a real estate scheme, urban trolling or, mercifully, a hidden camera hoax.



My camera, on the other hand, ignores the noise and manages to capture a Banon Chalant clear wine and a cloudy background.

"All of this should be sorted out, very soon, we are working on it now," says Hamudi Bargot with a smile of someone who has given this sentence specifically, to this me specifically, several times already at least in the last two years.



On the inside, however, all that rough decor doesn't get in the way.

On the contrary, she only helps.

If you want, another Akkaian seasoning to what is already an excellent fish anchor, a kind of small touch of seamen, and cheers.

wine, and background.

Almarsa (photo: Walla! system, Yaniv Garnot)

Connections of a house.

Almarsa (photo: Walla! system, Yaniv Garnot)

"We went fishing, and at first no one understood what we wanted from him. So we simply told him, 'Come to mom's house,' we went into the kitchen and started working."

The (relatively) new fishermen's menu of "Almarsa" offers, in a formulaic simplicity disproportionate to what goes on the plate, winter dishes from what the sea gave that day, inspired by traditional family recipes of the city's fishermen, and with a strong passion for preserving the taste, and preserving the stories.



It was born from the exact same ingredients - an uncompromising love for the sea, an unmediated connection to the people who make Acre, and above all the ability to rise up a little on the tips of your fingers, and look beyond the everyday, and the difficulties it throws at you.



"We went to the fishermen, and at first no one understood what we wanted from him," Bargato repeated, "He does Harima like this, but his mother does it differently. So we simply told him, 'Come to mother's house,' we went into the kitchen and started working. Her husband was also a fisherman After all, and from these connections come the tastiest pans."

More beautiful, more delicious.

Almarsa

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A post shared by Yaniv Granot (@yanivgranot)

This delicate dance finally gave birth to a whole show of old and new flavors, homely and restaurant, in what is probably everything you want from a restaurant the moment you enter it.



Red harayma and scallions inspired by the fisherman Michael Saadi tries to get locusts or mustard, for example ("He showed us how he cooks together with his father, it turned out amazing and we only asked to upgrade with the freshest fish available"), and Hassan Zakor's kobanya is chopped with sea fish , mint and Shinklish cheese.

When there is natsar fish (sea pig), it goes into the oven with winter vegetables and quite a bit of garlic and olive oil, like in Ismail Habush's house.

When there isn't, keep your fingers crossed for the anchovies, which model their marine saltiness on top of an open, tall and colorful sandwich.



Apart from these, there is also Ahmed Zakor's ciayadia, with yellow rice, confit onions, almonds, tahini and fresh mullet, and Ashraf Sawaed's feta cheese, garlic, spinach and butter-filled sida - or all the good things that "Almarsa" has to offer on a regular basis, sashimi intias It is not clear whether it is more beautiful or tastier, Siniya Yam, with tomatoes, eggplants and potatoes that were covered in a warm tahini blanket, and also the same seafood cube, a dish that is Achaean mythology even far beyond the walls.

A show of old and new.

Almarsa (Photo: Gilad Har Shelag)

Still waiting for the storm.

The fish of Acre (Photo: Gilad Har Shelag)

"The fishermen are a whole world, they live slowly, they are not involved in all the mess that is happening here now, they have their own rhythm and you have to go with it"

"I was excited when I boarded the boats with the fishermen. It's early in the morning, and at some point you can lift your head and see Acre from the outside, and as beautiful as it is," Bargot described, "they are a world unto themselves, live slowly, are not part of all the mess that is happening here now, there They have their own rhythm and you have to go with it."



This pace has slowed down even more this winter, putting the port city in an almost constant standby mode.

"There is a word in Arabic - Navi - that describes a strong storm, high waves, a real winter system that brings the fish closer to the mouth," he said, "Everyone waits for it all winter, and in recent years it hardly comes."

"Hating is easy".

Bargot (Photo: Gilad Har Shelag)

"There is nothing to do. We see it. The sea can no longer provide a livelihood and fish for everyone"

This smile, even if you take into account the last few wetter weeks, is becoming the default in the city, on the beaches of Israel, and also around the world of course.

"There is nothing to be done. We see it. The sea can no longer provide a livelihood and fish for everyone. In the past there were 5-6 large chinchillas in Acre, which would go out into the water every day and return with loot. Today there is maybe one, and a few other fishing boats , small, also only to supplement income."



Bragot knows.

Anyone who has ever had the chance to spend more than a few minutes with him, surely remembers his incessant running around, and his impressive ability to be in several places at the same time.

As such, he is well aware of what is happening in the city, its stalls, and certainly its boats.

"Years ago, most of the livelihood here was based on fishing, today it tends to zero. You have to understand that this is the situation, and it is very sad."

Keep your fingers crossed.

Almarsa

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A post shared by Yaniv Granot (@yanivgranot)

The stories of the fishermen jump out of the menu, catch in the throat, and in the heart

The stories of the fishermen that Bregot suffered from childhood, and during the joint work, jump out of the menu, catch in the throat, and in the heart.



The outstanding fisherman who drowned in the sea a few years ago and the one who sails tourists with at least one eye on the weather forecast, and the sea.

The one who lost his little brother and the one who learned from his grandfather.

There are at least 400 years of layers and rope ties, emotions and networks here.

All of them are now spread out in their entirety before the eyes, all of them are still intertwined with each other.



"One of the fishermen told me at the end of the day that he loves the sea more than his wife, because unlike her, he knows when the sea is angry and when it isn't," Bargot laughed, "but that's something they know how to say by the boats, before they come home."

far beyond the water line.

Almarsa's nights in Beirut (photo: Walla! system, Yaniv Granot)

Bargot looks around - between the restaurant tables but also outside, far beyond the urban water line - and tries very hard to spot some light on the dark horizon, and row towards it.

"We haven't reached the end yet, but we are close," he explained, "most Arabs want to enjoy themselves, like everyone else. The state must protect us, must wake up, but the politicians are busy with nonsense. Lower prices, take care of the economy, leave us, let us live. Hate it easy".



He gets up to the phone, takes care of the family asking for an account, engineers the next project in mind, and starts smiling again, slowly and small, but a smile.

"I recently thought about leaving here, maybe opening something somewhere else. Everyone asks me about abroad, but I'm from here.

I'm Acre, there's nothing to do."



The door opens and closes, and the glass window continues to reflect the outside, although the food (and the wine) did their thing, and what was perceived upon entering as "when will they really clean it up", gradually grows on you to the level of "let them leave it, that's the most real".

On the way out, the sun refracts at a thousand angles on everything that has long since been placed on the platform, never again.

Fishing nets, pieces of life, a smile at the end of a working day.

A panorama of optimism.



"Almarsa", Fishermen's Port, Old Acre, 04-9019281

  • Food

  • The food news

Tags

  • Acre

  • Almarsa

  • fish

  • sea ​​food

Source: walla

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