The summer vacation returned to us in full force, bringing with it once again the summer pop-up of the pair of cooks Nadav and Daniel, who come to the pool restaurant of the Dan Caesarea Resort. As in other resort hotels around the world, the Israeli hotel also emphasizes the culinary aspect of the pool experience – no longer a well-known pool buffet offering a variety of delicacies from the freezer to the plate, but an atmospheric and pleasant pool restaurant that conveys a feeling of vacation and vacation.
Nadav and Daniel, stars of local Thai cuisine who broke into consciousness as part of the culinary reality show "The Winning Kitchen", opened Dan Caesarea's line in the summer of 2021, and here they are once again taking it upon themselves to delight the palate of the guests with a lunch and dinner menu.
Chefs Nadav and Daniel, Photo: Yair Weller
Already on the food show, the couple presented a charming love story about Thailand, which is reflected in every aspect of their food. Nadav, who grew up in the Arava and spent his days in his family's farmland, found himself "mingling" with the Thai workers there and getting to know the authentic and cheeky food they cooked for themselves. Thus, he learned the secrets of these flavors and foods. Danielle traveled for months in Thailand and learned to cook from everyone she came across. Today they are a couple and parents of two. After the program, they began running a thriving culinary business full of tasteful memories of Thailand.
Choosing Nadav and Daniel to operate the hotel's pool restaurant is a wonderful choice, and there are two main reasons for this. One, Thailand is a word that immediately evokes a yearning for a vacation and good food. Second, Thai cuisine is a kitchen with which you can create light or full meals that are both delicious and kosher.
A dish at Nadav and Daniel's pop-up restaurant at the Dan Caesarea Resort // Photo: Ben Yoster
The foundations of Thai cuisine rely on many and varied raw materials that allow you to move easily and freely around meat, fish and poultry dishes, and stay true to the original even in a kosher kitchen, because there are no dairy products in classic Thai cuisine. This summer, we were delighted to discover several new dishes of the duo on the menu, indicating development, growth and continued learning.
What do we eat? Raw fish that is full of memories from Thailand due to its intensity of flavors and uncompromising spiciness. We really liked the use of celery leaves, which send the encounter with the palate in a slightly different direction from the familiar use of coriander only (72 shekels). The traditional classic papaya salad is served here without any interference, and that's a good thing (NIS 48). We also enjoyed the Thai salad on the menu – this is a perfect summer salad that combines protein, vegetables and carbohydrates in a light and delightful way. For us, it should be noted, it constituted a complete meal.
Includes some new dishes of the famous duo. The pop-up restaurant, photo: Uri Ackerman
A fried crispy fish dish served to us came to a bright and meticulous golden brown. The fish came with thin rice noodles, leaves, cucumbers, crispy garlic and peanuts – all in a sour, sweet and spicy sauce (72 shekels), but the highlight, in our opinion, was the deconstructed meat dish with five spices. "Five Spice" is a spice compound that usually characterizes Chinese cuisine. It provides sweetness, spiciness, sourness, and saltiness to the dish, and is usually found in cinnamon, fennel seeds, star anise, Sichuan pepper, and cloves.
Nadav and Daniel used this dish in another technique known in Chinese cuisine – deconstructed and fried meat. Which is somewhat reminiscent of the idea of combining the techniques in the preparation of the Peking Duck dish, which is also seasoned with the five-spice mixture. The thin meat fibers are fried to a different crunch than we tend to think, a crispiness reminiscent of American jerky beef. The crunchy threads of the neatly seasoned meat rested in a Thai sauce with flavors of galangal, kefir lime and tamarind. The dish is served with a small charred lentil pita – and the whole experience is a special sensory experience with uncompromising flavors (74 NIS).
Also there are cocktails. Restaurant dish // Photo: Ben Yoster
The experience should be wrapped up in a tasting of at least one cocktail from the Imperial House. The cocktails correspond with Nadav and Daniel's Thai cuisine, and complete the journey to the country that so many Israeli tourists love. They are served in spectacular cocktail glasses. Among cocktails, you can enjoy, for example, a glass of "Mai Thai" – Jamaican rum, Cointro, homemade almond syrup and lime (NIS 58).
Nadav and Daniel's pop-up restaurant at Dan Caesarea Resort is open to the public from Monday to Thursday from 23:00 to 19:00.
An uncompromising sensory experience. A dish in the restaurant, photo: Maya Drin
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