The Mishkan: Petah Tikva's shrine to Asian cuisine - review

1 week ago 32

ARTICLE AD BOX

You get to try small portions of so many different dishes, just enough to form an opinion before moving on to the next exotic taste.

By GLORIA DEUTSCH DECEMBER 19, 2024 02:53

What better welcome can a restaurant offer than a menu with your name on it? That’s the first surprise when you sit down for dinner at The Mikdash in Petah Tikva: a print-out of the 10-course tasting menu, with a personal welcome to each diner.

And tasting menus are such a great idea. You get to try small portions of so many different dishes, just enough to form an opinion before moving on to the next exotic taste.

And yes, the amounts are small, but – full confession – when I reached number seven, I had met my Waterloo and was unable to eat another crumb of food. That’s how filling seven small courses can be.

Fortunately, my dining companion has more stamina and was able to taste the full 10, so I can give a faithful report of this very unusual and delicious meal.

An unusual and delicious meal

We arrived soon after opening time at 6 p.m. We were greeted by chef and owner Liran Blue, who had spent some years in Japan, and his father, Dudu, still wearing his trademark trilby hat decorated with crocodile teeth. The restaurant first set up shop in Kfar Saba (our home for 40 years) but found it too parochial, so it moved to Petah Tikva several years ago.

The Mikdash (credit: ALEX DEUTSCH)

The place is situated in a modern building that is home to many hi-tech firms. The décor fits with this concept, with brick walls, very high ceilings, and an artificial cherry blossom tree hanging upside-down from the ceiling, bringing a riot of pink flowers to the otherwise stark décor.

The tables are lit with individual lamps and are laid with chopsticks resting on a stone, although a fork is thoughtfully provided as well.

The first course to arrive was a cucumber salad, made from very small gherkin-like cucumbers topped with a Japanese sauce called Furikake and garnished with fried rice. The sauce was slightly piquant but sweet, and the dish was a great start, as we felt it was very low-calorie. The second course was also healthy, being fresh tuna with a sauce made from sake (Japanese rice wine), with a topping of frozen persimmon, which was grated over the dish. Talk about original!

Next up was a selection of homemade crackers, very thin and covered in sesame and other seeds, made, we were told, from chickpeas. These were served with a smoked “butter,” apparently made from peas. It tasted amazingly like the real thing.

Course three was very thinly sliced kohlrabi with raw salmon, topped with fish sauce. For this, the homemade soy sauce, which, apparently took four years to reach its full intensity, added some needed flavor.

Stay updated with the latest news!

Subscribe to The Jerusalem Post Newsletter

By the time the fourth item arrived, the food was getting serious. This was a plate of smoked goose breast served on sliced turnip. A great combination of flavors. The next dish was also goose breast, covered in herbs, some of which I have never seen before.

Dish number six was Indian samosa – a crisp fried envelope filled with vegetables with a spicy dal on the side. The accompanying “yogurt” tasted exactly like the real thing.

Next up was chopped raw meat dressed with tarragon oil and a raw egg yolk. The meat was very tasty, though I couldn’t work up any enthusiasm for the egg yolk. This was followed by smoked tongue on a stick with “yogurt” chili. The meat was not fatty at all, and the garnish of sesame seeds and spring onion added a lot.

When a bowl of hot soup arrived on a gas ring to make sure it stayed hot, I resigned and let my companion carry on the work. He especially liked all the possible additions like bean sprouts and corn. The diner is required to dip pieces of raw meat in the soup for a few seconds and it did, indeed, emerge very tender. This, apparently, is a Vietnamese dish called pho (pronounced “fuh”).

Finally, my partner enjoyed his dream dish – breast of lamb with a mini bok choy, and cream made from pumpkin squash.

The menu offers one dessert, which we took home – a lemon meringue pie, which was as good as these things always are.

It was truly a memorable evening and a gastronomic experience everyone should try.