"A Place in the Heart" is an open garden restaurant that has been operating in Raanana for 30 years. It used to be surrounded by orchards on all sides, but today – the green landscape has been replaced by buildings that are in advanced stages of construction. Recently, the place passed from its old owners to a group of young entrepreneurs. We arrived at the place on Saturday afternoon. We discovered that the parking lot is a large, hot sand lot that must be crossed in the blazing hamsin just to reach the entrance to the restaurant.
After a short wait we were led by a young waiter to a kind of shady little orchard. That's all well and good – but despite the natural shade protection, it was still very hot and a small or large fan would greatly improve the condition and temperature. After the seat – a waiter pops up. He brought us the menus and another waiter came to take the orders.
A small fan would have improved the situation, photo: Amir Menachem
Then, suddenly, the first of the starters arrived at the table. One dish which brought with it a big problem - there was no cutlery on the table yet - nor glasses, drinks, napkins or plates. All these came at our request one after the other. Each item by a different waiter who seemed surprised by the previous one by our mere presence in the place. It wasn't until after a few such improvements, lasting about 20 minutes, that the table was finally set and ready for dinner – which, of course, had to happen before we arrived or at the same time as we were seated.
The drinks, especially decaffeinated infusions of iced teas of all kinds, were nice and very suitable for the weather. Their price, which stands at NIS 16 per refillable cup, is also very reasonable.
Infusions suitable for the weather, photo: Yakir Alkarib
For the first time, we ordered roasted chestnut pumpkin with tahini and silan (42 shekels) – a simple and good dish, both in concept and execution. A plate of zucchini patties in pesto sauce (44 shekels) that came with three patties that were too soft and lacked character or distinct taste. Artichoke salad (42) with the strange and overly heavy presence of cumin. On the way came a warm focaccia (42 shekels) served with three sauces: chirshi, spicy tomato salsa and tzatziki - all three completely generic, at the box level from the supermarket.
Dishes instead of heart, photo: Amir Menachem
From here we moved on to the evening menu and from there we ordered the main dishes: cheese gnocchi with mushroom ragu (68 shekels), sea bream fish (98 shekels) and pasta with tomato sauce from the children's menu (30 shekels). And if so far the meal we ate here was mediocre or lower, then from here the situation has only deteriorated.
The bream was served as two stiff, dry fillets. The side of their skin is coated with breadcrumbs, so it becomes inedible. They were served on a bed of charred gnocchi, fried for some reason with small pieces of red pepper. This dish could have been a justified basis for a collective lawsuit by the Dennis Growers Association. No taste and no smell, no sauce, no concept and no execution. At almost maximum pricing of NIS 98, you can expect much more. We tasted some of it and set aside.
Brunch dishes at the restaurant, photo: Amir Menachem
In the gnocchi dish the cheese sauce was thick, far too concentrated. The gnocchi themselves, referred to here as "clouds" as they are supposed to be, were viscous, even stiff. Even the "mushroom raghu" (the language of the menu) only added aggressive flavors to the dish, which was supposed to be light. The mishandling made her really aggressive.
The tomato pasta dish was banal, as expected. However, from a professional kitchen, you can expect that pasta will not suffer from overcooking, that the sauce will be of higher quality than one made from crushed tomatoes from a box. Still, this is a restaurant, not a makeshift Scout camp kitchen.
Stiff gnocchi and rather dry fish,
In the dessert menu, out of four items to choose from, two were missing. We settled for a chocolate cake that left no mark and started paddling our way back to the car through the hot sand lot. Such a meal will cost about 500 shekels here, including service and drinks – not too high a price for a good or even mediocre eating experience for four people. Unfortunately, this was not the case. To the credit of the food served here, it can only be said that it is not pretentious. Since the place also operates several halls for celebrations, it stops more or less around this level. Still, if we had come here for a wedding, it is highly doubtful that what we received would have justified the amount of the check. At the moment it seems that the young guys who have taken "A Place in the Heart" have to go a long way to bring their new restaurant to a minimum standard of service and food.
"A Place in the Heart", Pardes Joint 5, Ra'anana
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