24. Tel Aviv to Akko. January 11, 2023

Greetings from Akko—an enchanting seaside city with a “mixed” population (as they say here—meaning that Jews and Arabs and Christians live harmoniously) and an eclectic and artsy town. We arrived a few hours ago.

We began the day by heading to Tel Aviv Airport to pick up our rental car which took a lot longer than we anticipated. Finally got into the rental car at about 2:00. We had planned several stops between Tel Aviv and Akko, but traffic was a nightmare and as we inched along, we decided to head directly to Bat Shlomo, a really funky café (and I think the only enterprise in this little “village”). It sells homemade cheeses and other stuff. We settled on the mixed cheese platter which came with 8 different cheeses, sun dried tomatoes, grape leaves stuffed with cheese (naturally!), goat yogurt, labneh with spices, two different kinds of breads and a salad. We could barely eat half of it, but it was all wonderful and it was delightful to sit outside in this very eclectic garden adjacent to the little shop which is chock full of memorabilia of the family that came to Haifa in 1882 from Romania and is now run by the great grandson and his wife (who is Filipino) who live in the original cottage next to the shop. 

We made some decisions about dinner (where to eat dinner is a very important daily decision). We decided to go to the Uri Buri Restaurant which is only about a 10-minute walk from where we are staying in the Old City. More on that in a minute… Akotika is an interesting hotel in that there really isn’t any hotel building. There is a reception building whose stones that form the walls and arches date to the crusades. But the rooms are scattered into existing buildings within the old city. We have a large room with a terrace (although we have not used any of the terraces in any of the hotels we’ve stayed at because it’s been too cold), a large bathroom (as well as a freestanding clawfoot tub in the bedroom). We are on the second floor, which requires walking up and down about 50 stairs that are pretty steep and not always even. Fortunately, there are railings for most of the ascent. Breakfast is served on the roof of the reception building which requires ascending (and descending) about 90 stairs that are very steep. But the view and the food are worth the climb.

Uri Buri is one of those restaurants that are mentioned by chefs when they discuss Israeli food. The owner is Uri Jeremias and he has an iconic long white beard, so you’d spot him anywhere (as we did while walking around town the following day). The menu is all fish; after all you’re at the sea…why would you think about meat? The restaurant is in the first row of buildings from the sea. Foodies such as Anthony Bourdain and Ottolenghi have eaten at Uri Buri and have mentioned it in posts. He is considered one of the founding fathers of modern Israeli cooking. Supposedly he got his passion for cooking and food while traveling in India, most notably Goa, where he realized the importance of fresh fish and what to do with it. Apparently “buri” is the Hebrew word for “mullet.” The philosophy of the restaurant from the start was that to serve only food that Uri would eat, which was the fish near the restaurant and to use as few ingredients as possible (maximum 8). This was in 1988. So, it was minimalist cooking, I suppose… olive oil, garlic, chili pepper, lemon, and other herbs.

The waiter told us that all the fish they serve is caught that day or a couple of days prior if they are brining or using other methods that require time for marination or other preparations. The restaurant is small, so when you make a reservation they make it clear to call if you change your mind. Anyway, we had a great meal—shared two starters and two half-portion mains. The mains were sea bass in a cauldron (that included coconut sauce, chili, and apples; and a shrimp dish cooked in a cast iron pan with olive oil, garlic, spicy pepper, lemon, and coriander. The starters were: baby St. Peter’s fish in caramel with beet cubes; and the ceviche (meagre?) For dessert we shared the kanafeh (alongside of which was a scoop of rosewater ice cream and a scoop of cardamon ice cream. OK.. enough on food.

Good night… More tomorrow