For his birthday, Omer invited some of his foodies friends to a big dinner at Herbert Samuel. I remembered this place very positively after last time I ate there shortly after its opening. Few years have gone by since then. What’s changed?
Hello Herbert, we meet again.
The beautiful open kitchen is placed in the center of the second floor and we sat in a big table facing it.
The menu is seasonal, changes daily by the local produce and a lot of ingredients are especially brought from Amsterdam and Europe. Prices range of 36-98 NIS for starters and 62-265 NIS for a bigger plates. High pricing that rises expectations. A better quality picture of a similar menu.
Special cocktails menu priced between 46-56 NIS
The CuteCumber: Beefeater, lychee liquor, cucumber and basil (48 NIS). I’m not big on cocktails to be honest and this one didn’t move me as well. The cocktail fans at the tables seem to be rather pleased with it.
Yair was so hungry at some point, I let him eat the cucumber pieces from the cutecumber.
I always prefer ordering tap water, not only it’s for free, you always get the most beautiful bottles.
The French: A bottle of Chablis Billanud Simon 2011 was excellent. Light and round and fitted the meal.
The Argentinian: La Celia Malbec Petit verdot 2008. I liked it a lot. Deep flavors and so different than French wine usually.
The Israeli: Margalit Enigma 2008. Was the highlight. It took almost an hour since it was opened until it was properly ventilated and too bad the waitress didn’t wait before pouring it to all the guests.
Raising the glasses!
While waiting for the food we went to see the kitchen
The pass
Fresh bread basket with olive oil and balsamic vinegar (19 NIS)
Tomato Salad, the salad the whole town tries to imitate (42 NIS). Red, black and dried cherry tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, white cheese and boiled yolks, red onions. A good salad but I wouldn’t exaggerate with the definitions written in the menu.
Peruvian Style Oysters (36 NIS each). I love oysters and I love spicy. Something was off, it felt fizzy on my tongue. We asked the waitress about it, she said it’s suppose to be with vodka in it so maybe it’s that weird feeling we had.
Jerusalem artichoke and chestnuts cream with Truffle (46 NIS). Was a very nice soup, everyone who tried it enjoyed it.
Duck Apicius – whole roast duck, fig jam and autumn gratin (320 NIS, double dish). Was the most promising dish yet the most disappointing.
We split it among four people and all four agreed it was dried out. Also it was horribly presented. A whole duck cut roughly to unknown pieces and put just like that on four plates. The best thing about this dish was the fig jam.
Some more pieces of the duck on the side. The waitress was devastated when we weren’t happy but did nothing about it. Someone else on our table had his steak over-cooked and was asked if he wants a replacement. He got a better treatment than us: although didn’t ask for a replacement he wasn’t charged for the whole dish.
Veal cannelloni, chard and parmesan and veal stock (82 NIS). This dish was nice especially because of the sauce.
It was tasty but simple. I didn’t feel the chard. I think it was supposed to look better and have more elements (open the link to find the differences). Don’t know what happened.
From the inside…
Fillet of sea Bar, green garlic cream and sage zucchini (162 NIS)
The fish well seared and I liked the side dish.
Desserts menu ranging between 38-48 NIS
Before ordering desserts I went to the open pastry kitchen and asked them what they recommend. They said the brulee and the pistachio are their favorites. This is what we ordered.
Kulfi pistachio ice cream, balls of fried Kadaif noodles stuffed with pistachio and fruit salad (42 NIS)
It was a good dessert and I liked the combination of flavors, the ice cream was in perfect texture.
Caribean Chocolate Nemesis, Tonka Ice-Cream, (44 NIS but we got it on the house). Came with salted caramel sauce. The chocolate enthusiasts said it was a wonderful dessert.
Brulee Semifredo (48 NIS)
Three small brulee’s still half frozen inside. lots of things in between. I liked it. Beautiful as well.
Conclusions:
The good: The wine, the bread, the soup, the desserts..
The bad: The duck, the oyster and the waitress reaction to it.
I think Herbert missed the target this time by couple of inches. The uneven level of quality we received that night was confusing. Was it the pressure on the kitchen? Was it the time that passed since the opening? Was it the fact that we were a big table?
Anyhow..
I think that the duck dish left us with an aftertaste, even though all the rest was acceptable. The prices went up, the standards went down and I got a little twinge of pain in my heart.
6 Koifman st. (Gaon house), Tel Aviv
03-5166516
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