The evening 'business lunch'
Review: 206 Dagim has a 20-year track record of excellence, but it never ceases to innovate; it now offers tapas on Mondays and a chef's fixed-price 'business dinner' nightly.
The suburban duo of 206 restaurants—206 Meat and 206 Fish—has been catering to a loyal following of regular customers for two decades. Not content to rest on its laurels, however, 206 Dagim (Fish)—already known for the freshness of the fish it serves, as well as the chef's expertise in preparing it—recently instituted two new dinners: a tapas evening on Mondays, and a "business dinner" served every night of the week, plus all day Saturday.
The chef's "business dinner" comprises a three-course meal offered for the fixed price of NIS 159 per person.
The regular and special menus—as well as the wine list—are bilingual, and the staff speak English. There are no special house cocktails, but the wine list—100% Israeli—is adequate, with a limited number of wines available by the glass and carafe.
A meal at 206 Dagim starts with a basket of the house bread, served with soft butter, along with a plate of relishes: large green olives and giant pickles. The bread—a crusty whole grain—comes in handy throughout the meal for mopping up sauces.
The chef's "business dinner" choices for a first course are a fish and seafood soup, fresh pasta leaf with wild mushrooms, Vietnamese salad with scallop, and something called a tabbouleh bite.
The pasta dish is the only one with no fish or seafood in it, but it was recommended by waitress for its interesting ingredients: homemade flat pasta and fresh mushrooms sprinkled with polenta flakes and topped with a poached egg, all in a sauce infused with cognac. The runny egg yolk enriched the already complex sauce accenting the delicate pasta and mushrooms, in this excellent vegetarian dish.
The Vietnamese salad featured fresh scallop, bean sprouts, onion, cucumber and ground peanuts dressed in a zesty tamarind vinaigrette. It could have used more of the meaty seafood, but all in all it is a refreshing and satisfying cold dish.
The four choices of main courses consist of two fish and two seafood dishes: steamed salmon with red miso, chili shrimp, seafood risotto, and scorched sea bass filet.
The steamed salmon with root vegetables was served in a classic, round Asian bamboo steamer. The miso sauce was understated, but it gently permeated the moist fish, which practically melted in the mouth. A generous mound of multi-colored al dente vegetables, highlighted by several stalks of baby asparagus, covered the salmon.
Our choice of a seafood main course was the shrimp in a sauce of olive oil, garlic and lemon, perked up with chili pepper. The plump, juicy shrimp, plucked from the zesty sauce and eaten by hand, were finger-licking.
Of the three desserts on the evening business menu, the descriptions of the two we chose on the menu did not do justice to the delights that appeared on our plates.
The Chocolate Cremo—laconically described as white chocolate cream and amarena cherries—was actually dark chocolate mousse encased in a chocolate candy shell buried under a large swirl of whipped white chocolate. Crowned with the proverbial solo "cherry on top," this dessert was positively decadent.
Finally, the baked almond "cream" was, in fact, almond cake stuffed with a pear that had been poached in spices. The delicious cake and fruit, which sat on a drizzle of caramel and was accompanied by a scoop of vanilla ice cream, was altogether a very pleasing dessert a la mode.
The desserts were washed down nicely with cups of café-quality coffee.
206 Dagim
Not kosher
54 Moshe Sneh Street, Tel Aviv
Tel: (03) 648-3030
