While still in Romania, the Dollinger family's clothing business began, and when they immigrated to Israel, after that war, they opened a store in the Ashkelon market, on Herzl Street, the work area. A store that operates to this day and to which, it is said, David Ben-Gurion's maids came in the early 50s, when a ballpoint pen stained the shirt of the "old man" when he visited the city.
"We used to go to Dollinger for the jeans," says Hani Heinicke, who last March, near the same store, opened the restaurant "Hani's Victory" with her beloved Dafi Rotenberg. A restaurant where the windows face the parking lot between the indoor market and the new market, crocheted curtains flirt with the sunlight, and the kitchen produces Romanian food the likes of which we have not known in a long time.
It started between the Caucasus and the Balkans, with washi, a steaming Georgian bread they buy from a bakery in the city, on the table to replace the uniform bread. With great honor he carries the beauty of Iqra accompanied by crispy pickles, goes great with Pesulia Battuta, battered beans in Hebrew translation, the one Hanni insists on calling "the hummus of the Romanians". A spread made from beans that have been cooked for long hours and meet oil, salt, pepper and garlic. Some put fried onions on her head, others add tomato sauce on top. In "Hanni's Victory," less is more — and she arrives that way, fully nude.
Kebabs and crushed potatoes. Then you can rinse your throat with a refined Churba soup, photo: Etiel Zion
Delicacy in beans and gorgeous delicacy in execution for eggplant salad, which I doubt I knew better. "Summer or winter, it doesn't really matter. The main thing is to go for a light black and shiny eggplant that grows in a greenhouse," explains Hani, who has generosity to share. "And that no vendor will cut the eggplants laterally to show you that they don't have seeds. This is only checked by cutting lengthwise," she continues. And I don't think I've ever encountered a seller who offered to cross any vegetable for me when buying.
What a joy these eggplants bring, which were scorched on the grill and peeled while warm and left on a colander that would irritate liquids all night, until morning came. Then, around 8:00 A.M., Chani and Dafi arrive to begin their preparations. Through crocheted curtains you see the Dollinger brothers, wearing a stupid hat, arrive, each with his key, and open the clothing store that has been dressing the city for decades.
This is also more or less the time when Zelig's shoe store opens, and to this day every child who comes to it to renew himself in shoes or sandals receives a balloon. Just like Hanni and Daffy, women in their early 50s, received when they came there with mom and dad, and as their children did years later.
Bread for washi to soak in the juices of veal almonds that came off the grill, and for washi to soothe the spicy burning they install from pickled lemon, garlic confit, coriander and chili. A spread that ignites the mouth like the love story that sparked between them seven years ago ignited the ears of the Ashkelons. A love that no one could have perfected - not the couple from whom they parted, not the children, not the parents, not the sisters and not the brothers.
A flood poured down the ground and a flood of vodka went down my throat the day I met them in the winter of 2020, when they were having Romanian meals at their home. They served dishes that sought to breathe life into the Romanian cuisine on which Chani grew up at the legendary "Victory" restaurant, which closed in 2019, 70 years after it was opened by Yeshayahu Livshor, a discharged soldier and scion of a butcher family. A small place that routed through the austerity kitchen, just a stone's throw from the market, became a Romanian restaurant that became a stop on the way south.
Napoleon also passed through here
In the 80s, when his wife Sarah became ill and could no longer stand on the pots, Livshor Lionel, Chani's father, offered to enter into a partnership with him. Gabriella, Hani's mother, who grew up in Transylvanian cuisine, entered the kitchen, and "woe betide you if you tell her she is Romania," as Chani explained to me that day. "Transylvanians have their own mannerisms. If a lady who has finished eating covers her plate with a napkin, that's enough to know it's one of them."
Homestay brings with it blurring boundaries, and "it gets crowded and unpleasant. We felt hospitality took over our lives. The children came back from the army to a house full of guests, so we started looking for a place to open a restaurant that would be more in the direction of a Romanian hamara. We searched and searched, and we didn't find any."
Sometimes luck shines in the darkest places, and when Chani's classmate passed away, and Chani showed up to comfort mourners, she met Meir Seroussi, who made his fortune manufacturing electrical panels and real estate businesses. Seroussi did not raise his head when he asked how she was, not even when she answered that she was fed up because she couldn't find a place to open a restaurant. A few days later, the phone rang. On the line was Seroussi, the one who in Ashkelon is called "the angel who walks among us." He told her about a place he had in the market, not far from the location of the "victory" that had closed, and suggested that she come and see.
On the spot, Hani and Duffy fell in love with Seroussi and the Hirba in front of them. An Ottoman building, a remnant of Al Majdal, the town built near the ruins of ancient Ashkelon and which had 16,2 inhabitants in the 000th century, a large settlement by then-standards, known for its spinning and weaving industry. Napoleon, it is said, on his way north in need of dressing materials, found soft cotton fabrics that fit him well. Pad gauze, they named the pieces of cloth in the occupying army, after nearby Gaza.
Restaurant. An Ottoman building renovated for hungry guests, photo: Etiel Zion
Just as after 1948 al-Majdal became a Migdal neighborhood, assimilated into Ashkelon, which is developing in a storm, so too the curves of the building where Egyptian falafel was once sold have been assimilated into the Balkan décor. From the emerging menu, all traces of white meat were removed, and several fish dishes were added. "Well, what can we do? As soon as you open a restaurant, you have to give a few options to vegetarians," Hani explains with Romanian logic, when I remark that I was a little frightened by the presence of Levrak and Denise, and the fact that she, a proud Romanian, decided to give up pork.
Gypsy salad also made me suspicious of my delayed path from Tel Aviv. A salad that turned out to be an act of honor in the equal vegetables they buy every day at Nissim Ashush, who believes in the virtues and rabbis and powers of farmers. Any vegetable that has freshness and flavor is accepted into the vegetable flock and finds its way to the bowl, which is seasoned with the beauty of olive oil from the Balinsky farm, salt, pepper, a touch of lemon and various seeds and seeds. "You wouldn't expect novels, huh?" laughs. "I wouldn't expect myself," I reply.
On the way there, Etiel, the photographer, and I agreed that whatever happens, this time we don't drink. Not like last time, when we barely found our way back to Tel Aviv. The summary lasted about until halftime, when an unusual kebab and chorba soup arrived, which even the burning of the sky could not afford the pleasure it brought. What a beauty of execution, what a wonderful sourness, a kind of richness spoken in a whisper and not screaming its flavors loudly. From the first spoon you fall in love with delicate and soft chicken balls, which replace plump chunks of shpondera - as is customary in classics.
Doughnut with sour cream
The meal gets longer, each glass of vodka only increases the thirst for the next drink. Chani's smile of triumph rises on her face, as with the last strength we also eat from the mameliga that we missed for three years, and which does not have to cushion the pruning of drinkers.
In the last light we see the Dolinger brothers in a stupid hat, making their way home, speaking against the fire brigade, who forced Chani and Duffy to install a public address system at a cost of more than NIS 50,<>, even though this is a small place in the city that even this year they did not find in the budget money to protect it. Needless to say, no one will compensate them for the latest military operation, which began just after the site opened.
Chani speaks against jealousy and the institution of marriage. Raising another toast to the cheeks of Daffy, who quietly pushes her to dare, praises the cooking talent stored in her hands, even if polyp issues have caused her to wake up without a sense of taste on some mornings.
The Iqra and pickles go great with pasulia in tota ("battered beans"), which Hanni insists on calling "the hummus of Romanians." A spread made of beans that have been cooked for long hours and meet oil, salt, pepper and garlic. Some add fried onions or tomato sauce to it - here it is naked
Guests come and go, Defi's sister, her father, and here comes Meir Seroussi, a truly charming man. He tells of that time in Sardinia, when he was served pasta with sardines, and how he burst into tears because it reminded him of a dish his grandmother used to make in Tunis. And another story about Raniya, a classmate of Hani's who came from a Muslim family, one of the few who remained in the tower after '48, and then married an American who converted to Islam. And stories about her sisters, who married into the fat and semolly families of the Kingdom of Jordan and East Jerusalem, about her brother Tomer, who has a beautiful place in the city, and about her mother, who was a neighbor of Seroussi's, whom he used to drive whenever she asked.
"At school, no one made a fuss about the fact that there are Muslims," Hani explains. "I was much more employed by the Chinese who came to open the Parma restaurant. Because what do the Chinese have to do in Ashkelon other than spy?" she laughs, as Dafi arrives at the table with Papanash. A doughnut that Romanians install from dough that has cheese, sometimes also semolina, and is served warm with sour cream and berry concoction.
What softness, what sugar control, what lightness in an extraordinary performance - that for a moment managed to stop all the jubilation of the table and call the concentration to it. When you get there, don't give up on this papanash in any way. Not on weekdays, when the restaurant closes at 18pm, and not on Shabbat receptions, which are expected to launch in early July.
Live music will then wash over the plaza in front of the restaurant, the menu will concentrate on small portions that know how to accompany drinks, vodka, tzuika - who said spritz and didn't get? And if everything works as they dreamed, people will get up to dance, and the city of Ashkelon will rejoice and rejoice, because on Friday afternoon, between the two markets, there is no neighbor to complain about noises.
In honor of two women who know how to cook love, to create one big family, to call into it even those who have been terribly frightened; In honor of wonderful specials of Romanian cuisine; In honor of food that surpasses any nostalgic memory - I bring you two recipes that I received from Hanni and from Defi.
Soup "snakes"
A soup that received its special nickname thanks to the green beans at its center. It comes from Transylvanian cuisine and is eaten in summer. The quantity is good for 6 people.
Photo: Etiel Zion,
Ingredients:
√ 1 kg fresh green beans
√ 3 whole American celery stalks
√ 2 white onions
√ 4 whole carrots, peeled
√ 50 g butter
√ 1 heaping tablespoon of tomato paste (preferably of MUTTI)
√ 1 heaping tablespoon of flour
√ 1/2 tsp. black pepper
√ 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
√ 1/<> tsp. salt
√ 1 bundle of dill
√ 1/4 cup vinegar
To serve:
√ sour cream
How to prepare:
Cut off the beans and pull the "threads" on its sides, if any. In a large saucepan, put all the vegetables and add water up to about 10cm above the vegetables. Bring to a boil.
Lower heat and cook over low heat in a covered saucepan for about 25 minutes, or until the carrots are soft. In a small saucepan or pan, melt the butter over low heat. Add the flour, paste and black pepper, gradually adding a cup of the soup water. Reduce on low heat until thick.
Pour into broth and mix. Add salt, taste and fix seasoning. Add a bundle of dill and the vinegar. Cook for another ten minutes over low heat, still in a covered saucepan. When the soup is ready, strain the vegetables and keep aside only the beans. Cool and put the beans back in. Refrigerate. Serve cold with a tablespoon of sour cream per diner.
pickled watermelon
Chani says that this recipe is a great way to treat any watermelon that upsets you from the first taste, one that isn't sweet enough to eat as is. The quantities are for medium-sized watermelon. Before use, rinse the jar with boiling water, and when removing watermelons from it, use tongs or another tool - just not with your fingers.
Photo: Etiel Zion,
Ingredients:
√ 1 medium watermelon cut into cubes, with the peel
√ peeled teeth from 2 heads of garlic
√ 2 hot peppers, halved laterally
√ 4 carrots, peeled and sliced into slices or sticks
√ 4 celery sticks, with the leaves, cut into segments of about 8 cm
How to prepare:
Put celery, garlic carrots and hot pepper in the bottom of the jar and arrange the watermelon cubes on top. Repeat the arrangement in layers and pour over water in which dissolve salt according to a ratio of 1 heaping tablespoon of salt per liter.
Close tightly and leave outside the refrigerator in a shaded place. The next day, gas is opened and released. With a spoon, taste a little of the water and add salt if necessary. Close again and keep out of the refrigerator for two days to a week, depending on the weather. When the watermelon changes color, put it in the refrigerator.
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