At the intersection of art and food
Review: The international Colorfood project was celebrated at a photographic exhibition and unique dinner at Aubergine, the fine dining restaurant of the David Intercontinental.
Colorfood is an ambitious international project that draws its inspiration from the creative spirit shared by artists and chefs. Since 2012, some 200 works depicting food artistically arrayed by culinary maestros have been exhibited in Israel, as well as Europe.
The most recent exhibition was held in Tel Aviv, at the David Intercontinental Hotel, at the end of August. Photographs of dishes conceived by some of Israel’s leading chefs were on display, arranged thematically and visually by color. Among the prestigious local chefs participating in the Colorfood enterprise are David Frenkel, Yossi Shitrit, Moshe Segev, Orel Kimchi, Haim Cohen, Ran Shmueli, Aviv Moshe and Yisrael Aharoni.
In conjunction with the August Colorfood showing, the talented chef of the David Intercontinental’s Aubergine, Alon Hirtenstein, created a special dinner menu reflecting the colors highlighted in the exhibit. Hirtenstein worked in close consultation with photographer Dan Lev, Colorfood’s originator.
The repast commenced with Black and White—two kinds of bread, one a dark rustic sourdough and the other a light Italian loaf—served with a white garlic dill cream, and a black olive tapenade. The crusty breads and zesty dips were an excellent introduction to the meal that was to follow.
The first course was Red: ruby-hued raw tuna, prepared in three ways—as tartare in lemon and a watermelon bulgur salad; as sashimi with roasted red pepper salad and spiced tomatoes; and gently seared after being encrusted with ground black pepper. Each version highlighted the extreme freshness of the melt-in-your-mouth fish, while the lightly seared slices were truly outstanding.
Next came Yellow: Sea bass in a yellow coconut curry sauce, with grilled cubed pineapple, yellow carrot, and saffron risotto, garnished with spicy tapioca tuiles. In spite of the menu description, there was really no trace of curry sauce—which was just as well, since the perfectly cooked white sea fish was delicious on its own, paired with the mild risotto and crispy tapioca crackers.
The main course was Green: pistachio encrusted goose breast, served with creamed spinach, julienned zucchini and fresh peas. The pink-centered poultry was chewy but succulent, and complemented nicely by the al dente zucchini and peas and flavorful spinach purée.
Dessert was titled Picasso: no specific color was associated with this dish, which was presented as a painter’s palette, with splashes of red, brown and pink surrounding a white banana pecan panna cotta and candied hazelnuts. This was the one course of the meal that looked better than it tasted, since the centerpiece of the dessert—the panna cotta—suffered from having to be pareve.
Throughout the memorable meal, diners were served two fine wines: a Gamla Tempranillo, and a Chardonnay from the Golan winery.
Aubergine @ The David Intercontinental Hotel
Kosher
Yehezkel Kaufmann St, 12, Tel Aviv
Tel. 03-7951111
