A mutual trust among chefs is quite rare. Tomer Agay (42), who has climbed his way from being a sous chef at Yaffo-Tel Aviv restaurant to Santa Katarina with the encouragement of his boss Haim Cohen, has a lot of experience. He has now brought Chef Idan Peretz (31) to Jericho - a new restaurant and bar that opened this week in the Greek Market in Jaffa.
Peretz began his career as a bartender in La Shuk at Dizengoff Square. "The kitchen was always calling to me, I went in for a few shifts and fell in love." From there, he went to work in the Popina kitchen, ran the Fleamarket kitchen, and returned to Popina as a chef. Last year, Peretz participated in the S. Pellegrino Young Chef competition and won first place in Israel and third in the Middle East. He came to "Jericho" through an acquaintance with one of the owners and was supposed to serve as an acting chef under Agay. But plans are one thing and reality is another.
© Anatoly Michaello
An organized mess
"We saw how Santa Katarina works in the atmosphere and culinary line of a shuk, but in terms of materials and strictness, it is very far from being like a shuk, and we wanted to make a similar concept that connected this atmosphere with our food," says Yair Yunes, one of the owners.
"My style lies somewhere between Popina and Santa Katarina," says Agay. "I love the cleanness and elegance of Popina's language, so I connected it to the culinary culture I grew up in - a local, Mediterranean market with winks to Greece and the Arab world. "My food is an organized mess - the more you throw in, the better it comes out," Peretz adds.
The space of Jericho also resembles Santa Katarina: approximately 25 seats in an old building that was renovated and 100 places in an open courtyard.
© Anatoly Michaello
What's on the menu?
Peretz remarks, "You can sit with a meal and a glass of wine for NIS 70 and you can have dinner at NIS 250. The menu starts with entrées (NIS 21-26), such as Arancini made from Persian rice and herbs filled with labane on top of tomato salsa. In the main course category (NIS 36-48), you will find Carpaccio with fried capers. The pricing is relatively accessible and single dishes are close to the NIS 100. One example is a deep-fried Branzino fish that comes with a plate of lettuce, pickled lemon cream, Moroccan salad and green leaves, a local interpretation of the Asian Miang Kham, which can function as a main course or a perfect sharing dish for friends.
Jericho. 4 Pinchas Ben Yair, Greek Market, Jaffa. Sun-Sat 18:00-01:00.