Northern Eats

Whenever we go up north, we find that there are really only two options for eating out. We ignore all those "wannabe-south-of-France-home-in-the-countryside-style" restaurants that usually serve sub-par uninspiring dishes with elaborate names and instead go for either local Arab restaurants or Uri Buri.

The first option can be found everywhere around the Carmel, Galilee and Golan mountains. In recent years the simple highway hummus/kebab joints have made some changes to their menus, and some now serve traditional vegetable and meat stews and incorporate local herbs and spices found in the mountains. Perhaps one of the best (and also the most famous) of these spots is El-Babur, a family owned restaurant from Um-el-Fahem, that now has a new and tacky branch in Yokneam. The food, unlike the decor, is absolutely amazing. They offer a large variety of traditional salads such as garlicky cauliflower in tahini, labane goat cheese with mustard grains, finely chopped tabulleh salad with pomegranate seeds, the list goes on... Their kubbeh is one of the best in the country, fresh, tasty and with a pinch of cardamon that really gives it an interesting kick. We also ordered delicious sauteed chicory and okra in tomato sauce. The El-Babur kebab is their specialty, made from ground lamb cutlets, baked in spicy tomato sauce in a hot oven covered in a lid of bread. Top it off with some sweet yet refined knaffe, some black Turkish coffee and you're good to go....

 
The kubbeh

Sauteed chicory and onion

El Babur
Star of Yokneam Mall
Yokneam Intersection
tel 04 9891619

If we don't want to stuff our faces with endless arab mezze, we head up to Akko (Acre), have a quick go through the historical sites and head straight to Uri Buri. Uri Yermias, a fisherman with a long white beard and mustache is a self taught chef who creates miracles in the kitchen with fish and seafood. The fish are seasonal and the dishes are precise. For starters, thai fish soup in a coconut milk base (pic here) was a favorite dish. It had just the right amount of spice but still maintained a delicate feel with seasonal fresh sea food. An appetizer of baby St. Peter's fish fillets (pic here) was the perfect blend of a sweet Asian flavoring and tangy pickled beetroot. The smoked forell was rich with smoky flavor and served with baked root vegetable and tangy sauce. The grilled amberjack was simple, but grilled exactly to make it crisp and tender at the same time. Even the gluten free bread, made of almonds, was fantastic. A stroll around Akko, with it's beautiful alleys and ancient monuments is always even better after a meal at Uri Buri, so far we think it's the best fish restaurant in the country.

Smoked forrel with baked rot vegetables

Grilled amberjack

Uri Buri
Ha'Hagana (Lighthouse square), in the old city
Akko
tel 04 9552212

Weekend #2

It was decided that we were to go away up North for the weekend, yet again (this is starting to become a pattern we can get used to). On Friday we spent some time in Akko. We wandered around the old city, saw the Khan El Umdan, entered the Templar Crusader Tunnel, visited the port and had an excellent seaside dinner at Uri Buri and bought his cookbook of course.

The clock tower above the Khan El Umdan.

Docked fishing boats at the port

Fishing

The top of St. John Church.

The next day we were joined by our dear friend N and traveled to Nazareth (we had such a great time the week before that we had to return). This time we came a little earlier on in the day so we could explore the market. There were all kinds of shops, many selling kitchen ware, but this perfume shop caught our eye.

Since a trip to Nazareth is never complete without indulging in some sweet oriental dessert we had to sample the divine knafeh at El Muchtar Sweets (we thought it was better than the knafeh at Mahroum Sweets that we tried last week). But to be fair, we don't think you can go wrong with knafeh anywhere in Nazareth, the capital of sweets.

We soaked in the landscapes...

... and drove around finally reaching Zichron Ya'akov. We decided to drop by the city cemetery and pay a visit N's grandfather, one of the founders of the city. Our weekend of northern indulgence culminated at dinner in El Babur and before we knew it we were on our way back to Tel Aviv.

El Muchtar Sweets
Toufik Ziad Road
tel 04 6556027
(there's another branch on Paulus the Sixth Street tel 04 646 1661/2)

A Weekend North

It was time to spend some time away from Tel Aviv and a weekend up north was just what we needed. We had a house all to ourselves in Zichron Ya'akov (thanks to our friends who had gone away and left it to us). We spent our time enjoying the late summer landscapes, wandering through Nazareth, visiting churches and candy stores (we bought some Syrian chocolate and black tehini), eating a lot of Galilee mezze (of course) and breaking for knafeh and other Ramadan treats as much as possible.

Summer in the North
Dinner in Ayn Hawd.

Mahroum Sweets, the best place in Nazareth to pick up some knafeh and other oriental treats.

Baklava!

Off the highway.

Fahoum Coffee Shop

Syrian Chocolate

Nahalal, the concentrically circled moshav by architect Richard Kauffman.