Liwa, a fish restaurant on the roof of Akotika Hotel, Acre/Yaniv Garnot
46 rough steps separate the famous sidewalks of Old Acre and Liwa, the new rooftop food bar of the Akotika Hotel. I know, because I counted, and I'm sure everyone who climbed did too.
The second time I learned that it passes the time well between inhaling, exhaling and regulating the breath, and the third time I used it as an excuse to rest in the middle, and a little after the middle, and a little after-after the middle. In short, whoever placed a colorful and well-upholstered chair at the end of the first gram knew what he was doing, but he could have easily continued further, and not stopped there. A sofa, say. Photon. Maybe a spa treatment bed.
The strict conservation rules prevented, presumably, the establishment of an elevator in the hotel, and accessibility is questionable to limited, forcing clarifications in advance for those who are less into hiking matters. The journey, however, and to remove any doubt that may now arise, is worth every one of these 46 cruelties.
Below, the mythical alleys weave in on themselves, offering you an almost clichéd Acrean mosaic of magic and flowing water - grandeur and splendor, trash and sewage. Empire, with rust. Above, all this goes to the depths of the head, making room for the big blue. The magnificent arched lobby of the hotel begins with the softening action, and the water does the rest, and Mahmoudi.
the big blue Liwa
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And this is the story: a Muslim Arab who is both a native Acre and one of the best restaurateurs in Israel opened a food bar in front of the sea, on the roof of the Akhotika Hotel in Acre, offering a menu of dairy fish and kosher
Let's give it away already, because there is no story without the rather amazing title of this thing - a Muslim Arab who is both a native Acre and one of the best restaurateurs in Israel opened a seafront food bar, on the roof of the Akhotika Hotel in Acre, offering a dairy fish menu, and kosher
He knew it was coming, almost word for word, and tried with all his might to avoid the convoluted sentence above, but he was also fair enough to understand that you can't write about Liwa without that exact sentence. What they will say is of less interest to him, because he already knows. "Jews will attack me from here because I'm an Arab, and Arabs will attack me from the other side because what's wrong with me and kosher, and in the middle everyone else will attack me." As mentioned, he knows, and for some reason he also reads these things. go figure.
I remember how in one of the first articles I did on him, on another Akkaian roof, just as perfect, I forgot to turn off the talkback option and remembered only after about two hours. The result was everything that happened here. Now I don't forget anymore. Now we are left only with the story itself.
And the story is this - if there is hope for Israel, and for the Israelis, it is sitting here on the bar.
Dream of an empire
A sweet little Austrian moment of silence in the midst of the hustle and bustle
To the full article
if there is hope Liwa/Walla system!, Yaniv Garnot
"What's left for me? People tell me to leave, move to Tel Aviv and Haifa, and a million places in the world. I answer that I'm probably stuck in Acre, for better or for worse."
Hamudi Bargot saw Acre go up in flames about three years ago, and thought it couldn't get any worse than that. He labeled those nightmarish days as a loss of control by the authorities and as a criminal and less nationalist riot, and moved on, scarred but united. Now, in the shadow of the long war in the South and the North, he wonders when we will really hit rock bottom.
He is a man of the sea, like any true Acre. Feeling the water and touching fish and fishermen without filters, without etiquette. The hands are working hands, and the head holds an entrepreneurial energy that anywhere else in the world would have paved it to the exit, and another, and another. Here, he fights.
"What's left for me? People tell me to leave, move to Tel Aviv and Haifa, and a million places in the world. I answer that I'm probably stuck in Acre, for better or for worse," he explained, "I don't know why, but that's the way it is. I love the city and I love its people And likes to host. This combination only happens here, and it's better if it really happens in front of this sea."
man of the sea Bargot/Gilad Har-Shelag
The bar was built from scratch, and so was the modest kitchen. Now, this is a place so modular and flexible, that you wonder where he practices yoga
Liwa (which is a very specific type of fishing action that he explains at length, including hand movements and piercing eyes. Something with net and pull but also slang for active action even offshore and I swear I was focused but then I got carried away thinking about boats and water and beaches and sun) she is indeed, and first of all, the sea
The cursed stairs bring you into a modest and well-planned foyer - to the left is a small kitchen and a medium-sized square bar that opens onto a charming urban terrace. To the right are a few tables, and another balcony, facing the horizon.
The space, which had previously housed other similar businesses, was already completely reasonable at its core, but Bargot wanted more, and started working. The bar was built from scratch, and so was the modest kitchen. Now, this is a place so modular and flexible, that you wonder where he practices yoga. You can stand and stare at the water, you can sit down for a romantic date, you can open a table or pick up a light meal at the corner of the bar, or go out to smoke something on the back porch while chatting with the neighbors - and all in the relaxed freedom of Acre.
I want to say this: Rooftop is not only the Roof and not only the Top, and now Rooftop will be Liwa. This is the standard.
Tasting storm. Liwa's fish sensors/Walla! system, Yaniv Granot
The menu is everything that Hamodi always dreamed of doing, if that dream was under the supervision of a hatch. He based himself on his wonderful Almarsa restaurant, which looks out from a different angle, from the very harbor, on the water, and had a very complex dialogue with Mahmoud Halaila on the way there.
He tells about experiences and attempts, tests and failures, and above all about funny, almost surreal experiences that were mixed in the plate. The demythological seafood bowl of the mother restaurant has here become a fish bowl, and a magnificent meat dish, full of family memories of Arab cuisines, has received a similar twist here, and in the midst of experiences with the overseer, with the stairs, and with Halaila himself, who made the madness into a food that cannot be finished devour.
From now on, a laptop that is the standard. Liwa/Gilad Har-Shelag
There is a set of starters and starters that "one of everyone, at least" must have - tomato and cheese shanklish salad (NIS 44), for example, fish tabbouleh (NIS 69), avocado ceviche (NIS 59) bright with umbrellas and colors and a pair of sea bass bruschetta (NIS 56) shekels).
There is also fish shishbarak (NIS 74), "Ashraf's" koba niya (NIS 59) which replaces raw meat with fish of course and also replaces traditions and conventions in a new way, mother vine leaves "Am Ahmed's" (NIS 52), "Fishermen's koba" (62 Shekels for a pair) also drives away the same Mahshi (72 shekels for a trio), which is a treasure-filled zucchini with delicious storms inside.
"It's better if it happens in front of this sea." Koba Naya Fish of Liva/Walla! system, will yield money
This is indeed a tough and somewhat cruel deliberation, but one can take solace in the absolute knowledge that there is no chance of falls here
A rare rub of Pastrami Intias (NIS 64) will arrive here, if you know what's good for you, for each and every table, with its plump saltiness, it will jump awake conversations into intense monologues, and upgrade a creaking romance to a sexy date.
Then there will be a debate between mullet sideya (NIS 109), lamb fillet on sweet potato cream (NIS 119), moser with artichoke cream and mashed potato (NIS 129), sea bream fillet on lemon frika (NIS 119) or harayma locust (NIS 139). This is indeed a tough and somewhat cruel deliberation, but one can take solace in the absolute knowledge that there is no chance of falls here. Given that this is the case, you can lean back, you can enjoy, you can dream.
Lean back, enjoy, dream. Liwa/Gilad Har-Shelag
"Big Brother" fans knew what they were doing when they approached him, and he knew what he was doing no less when he refused
Bargot often travels around Israel and the world, tasting and experiencing, testing himself and comparing. The result of all this is a completely up-to-date kitchen with roots deeply planted in the bottom of the Acrean Sea.
He is independent, liberated, swears allegiance only to his mother and is still looking for the one, although the way to that one is an entire evening on relationship and dating stories which is the reality show that Netflix must now. The "Big Brother" fans knew what they were doing when they approached him, and he knew what he was doing no less when he refused.
If he had gone in there, the screen would have been scorched. Stories about Ramallah's night life ("There, like here, an absolute majority of the people, of the ordinary citizens, just want to live") and the restaurants of Tel Aviv, about the anti-Israel demonstrations in Amsterdam and Berlin ("I watched from the sidelines, I didn't want to join, and suddenly Someone approaches me and asks where I'm from. He knew. I found myself standing and explaining the situation to him") and about the sure way to destroy Israel (yes, Ben Gabir, you guessed it right).
From now on, and with roots. Liwa/Walla system!, Yaniv Garnot
"I see this combination, one next to the other, at the bar, sitting and laughing, but also listening, talking, seeing the other, the different"
At Liwa's bar, however, he found solace. True, a magnifying glass and a lot of optimism were needed, but this diamond was indeed found. A little more polishing, a lot more work, and maybe from here the salvation of all of us will emerge.
"There are kippah wearers sitting here, because it's a kosher place and they finally have a kosher Arab option to really try. Next to them are sitting Arabs from Acre, who come to drink and enjoy themselves. A reservist who came back from Gaza and his partner who is not ready to hear about Bibi being replaced, next to domestic tourists who came from a demonstration against the government ", he described, "Wow, I see this combination, next to each other, at the bar, sitting and laughing, but also listening, talking, seeing the other, the different. I'm excited about it."
The salvation of us all. Liwa/Gilad Har-Shelag
We go up shortly before sunset, on one of the last rainy evenings of the season. The sun cooperates with orange statements and rays from another world, and the sea may be slapping its feet, but in the end it surrenders, as always.
Just before 6:00 p.m., this dance converges to fifty shades of gray, at least, and the body rotates. With your back to the sea, with your head to the bar. The music gets louder, but not raging. The cocktail is mixed and the wine is poured generously into the glass next to it. Another day of Ramadan is about to expire, a new Passover is about to begin. Let the web capture you, drift away. Liwa's island awaits.
Liwa, Akotika Hotel, Hagana, Old Acre, 04-8617437
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