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George & John

Tel Aviv

Contemporary pan-Mediterranean fare majoring on smoke and fire

On the Pass

Tomer Tal

Cooking local: Chef Tomer Tal combines flavours and recipes from his Jewish-Moroccan heritage with seasonal raw products from Tel Aviv’s Carmel Market and fresh seafood from adjacent Jaffa Port. Each beautifully plated dish tells its own story, showing an aspect of the local eastern Mediterranean cuisine.

Founding duo: The restaurant’s home, a 19th-century construction in the heart of the city’s Jaffa neighbourhood, is a source of continual inspiration to the chef and his team. The founding brothers, after whom the establishment is named, set up shop in one of the country’s first modern hotels; the rest is history. The hotel now hosts Jaffa’s first wine bar and outdoor grill.

Mastery of fire: Several kinds of charcoal-based grills and smokers are used in the kitchen: the hand-chopped kebab is prepared in a small, traditional Middle Eastern classic grill; while wild local cabbage is smoked in a clay pot smoker, set in George & John’s garden.

Stars of the show: A range of delicate fresh seafood dishes form the first half of its menu, including delicate sashimi served on the bone with smoked dashi, daikon, yuzu kosho and black caviar. For a taste of the grill, opt for the slow-roasted lamb, lahuh (flatbread), crispy leaves, peanuts and shifka ketchup.

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