A colorful meal
Review: Chef Nadav Malin cooks a monthly chromatic dinner to celebrate spring in a charming venue in Abu Ghosh.
A former small Kitan textile factory that has been repurposed to serve as a venue for small-scale cultural events is the scene this spring for a series of thematic dinners conceived and executed by Chef Nadav Malin. Designed in what it calls “eclectic industrial” style, HaMatpera (The Sewing Room), located in the picturesque Arab village of Abu Ghosh in the Jerusalem corridor, is hosting Chef Malin’s series of “Meals in Colors,” as diners sit at tables that used to be sewing machines.
Chef Malin’s 7-course dinners are meant to be chromatic explorations at the nexus of art and cuisine. Each course bears the name of the color that is predominant in the dish created by Malin, who studied and trained in Europe, and now helms the Luiza catering company. Menus were deliberately withheld until the end of the meal, requiring diners to exercise their sense of taste in order to identify the food they were eating.
The pre-dinner drink was a rosé wine, kicking off an evening during which unlimited quantities of wine flowed freely. There was also a tasty amuse bouche before the actual dinner began, as well as an espresso cup of excellent soup—neither of which was identified in the post-prandial menu.
The first official course was Green: eggplant tartare with pine nuts, berries and tehina, served on a wood platter with assorted green vegetables—like zucchini and okra—and scattered green herbs and leaves, especially a large fig leaf. The best part of the dish was none of the green bits, but the fresh eggplant, as well as an unidentified grain, which presumably was smoked freekeh.
Next was Yellow: raw yellowtail, with couscous and yellow tomato. The freshness of the mouthwatering fish was evident, and its flavor enhanced nicely by its accompaniments.
The Orange course was a soup of orange vegetables poured tableside into a bowl containing a cinnamon stick and star of anise. The thick and hearty soup was served with an anchovy tuile, and brown bread that was torn off a stick.
The unusual bread—flecked with herbs and studded with raisins—had an amazing texture that struck a beautiful balance between cake and bread, as well as tantalizing taste that combined sweet and savory. It may have been intended as a mere accompaniment to the primary dishes, but it certainly threatened to steal the show from some of them.
The White course derived its name from several of its elements, notably the foam from white bubbles that covered the dish, as well the inside of the impressively large Coquilles St. Jacques shells that contained—startlingly—not a scallop but fried veal sweetbreads, on a thin layer of turnip cream. For those who are fans of sweetbreads, it was done well.
The main course of the evening was the Red: breast of mallard in a blood orange sauce, served with red cabbage, red potatoes and beets. The duck meat was positively succulent and never-ending, as seconds and even thirds were magnanimously abundant.
The penultimate course was Transparent: a cold rice-jasmine tea garnished with seasonal fruit. This is the course that proved that color and taste are truly meant to go hand in hand during this meal, as the absence of color here was matched by an equal absence of taste.
The dessert course was Black: forbidden rice pudding, chocolate-chili sorbet, a raspberry macaroon and a cocoa tuile. Each element in this dish was delicious, and even better all together.
All of this exquisite food was washed down by as many glasses of several vintages of robust red wine from the Castel and Bar Maor wineries as the heart desired.
This memorable chromatic meal, priced at NIS 350 per person (including wine), will be reprised at the same venue on May 1. The food served at the meal is kosher.
HaMatpera. Ha-Elah 2, Abu Ghosh. Tel.(02) 533-7120.
