Shoya Restaurant, Ashkelon/Shoya
Between the soldiers at the front and the families of the reservists who were left behind (when everyone enlists to help them too, of course), there are tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of volunteers who have been mobilized since October to support the soldiers, the injured and the evacuees and to encourage their spirits.
These too are slowly trying to return to their routine, to the businesses they left behind, to their careers and to the various jobs, when they must revive them, otherwise they will be left unable to catch up with the pace of life.
One of these is Yogev Zaoui from Ashkelon, 32 years old, who after 13 years in the various kitchens in the Ashkelon area set out on his own, when this war met him just before he was cutting the film at his new restaurant.
"After years, I decided to start a new path," he said, "I really wanted to open my own place, right here in Ashkelon, where I belong. I paid eviction fees for a restaurant that closed, and the official opening was supposed to be on October 10th. You see, everything was ready - the meats, the ingredients The raw material, the fresh vegetables - everything was already ready to open, waiting for 'after the holidays' to start a new journey."
17 events have already been counted, from north to south.
Zawi (left) with his friends/courtesy of the photographed, courtesy of the photographed
But Zooey's life, like many of us, took a different direction on the seventh of October.
"We had a few days of complete shock and shock," he says, "but we quickly realized as Ashkelonites for modi experience that this is really not another round, and that the restaurant is not going to open in the coming weeks. And now what, are we going to throw the food away?".
Zaoui pulled out of the warehouse the grill equipment for events that was the basis of his previous business, gathered some friends, and went down to the field, "to make a fun evening of meats for the Yalam unit.
We looked at each other at the event and said to ourselves that on the one hand we sit at home and do nothing and on the other hand here in the field we receive a lot of warmth and love from the soldiers who are simply worth it."
The next step was to make the whole thing more organized, with a WhatsApp group under the name "Barbecue brothers". It has dozens of regular volunteers, and many more join the events on a one-time basis as Zawi begins to collect donations. Last week, he marked his 17th event. "We've already been to the north.
As far north as you can imagine.
We went down to the Arabah and of course here close to home in the Gaza Envelope."
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Shuya's Parana entrecote in Ashkelon/PR
When Xavi "looked up" from the grill in the field, he came across his restaurant still standing and waiting for him.
"We feel that the situation has calmed down a bit," he says, "and we decided about two weeks ago that we would slowly open the restaurant. No festivals, fireworks, celebrations and ribbon cuttings. There are also businesses around that are still closed while their owners are still in reserve. We decided that we would just arrive one morning and open it to the public." .
The restaurant is called Shoya (grill or barbecue in Tunisian) and is located in the old market of Ashkelon.
Its flagship dishes are a parana bun with crumbled asado or a butcher's entrecote, served with homemade sauces like chimichurri and garlic confit, with a meal coming with onion rings or fries.
At a price of NIS 56 for asado and NIS 55 for entrecote.
"Yes, it's fast food, but it's high-quality, and those who want to come and open a table here will get great meat platters that you can feast on with a few guys together," says Zoi, "We had a marketing strategy that was pretty much thrown in the trash. Collect followers on social media, start marketing campaigns, Ads and all that is needed, but everything feels a little crooked to me these days, so we just opened, hoping that an audience will come and enjoy our delicious and decadent dishes."
Shoya, Havoda 31, Ashkelon, Sunday-Thursday 10:00-22:00, 08-9437554
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