Chloelys Brings Home the Bacon and the Stars

Two sets of congratulations and warm kisses on both cheeks to chef Victor Gluger of Chloelys Restaurant in Ramat Gan, first for being the only Israeli restaurant to attain the Wine Spectator's Award of Excellence for its wine menu and wine service (225 selections on the wine list and 6000 bottles in cellar) and second for having jumped in my list of recommended restaurants from four to five stars (Outstanding by International Standards)

The restaurant's internet site can be seen at http://www.rest.co.il/chloelys

Best
Rogov

Chloelys Brings Home the Bacon


Errr.. not a phrase particularly appropriate to an Israeli forum I'd have thought ???

Peter, Hi....

One of the most common mis-understandings about Israel is to the effect that most restaurants are kosher and that most people keep the laws of kashrut. If you were to take a peek at my list of recommended Israeli restaurants on this page you would realize that the vast majority of fine dining experiences offered here are most definitely not kosher. In fact, I do not think you will find a kosher restaurant on my annual (approx 1 January) list of the best restaurants in the country.

Indeed many folksy restaurants are kosher but when it comes to upswing dining such items as lobster, oysters, pork, shrimps, clams (all distinctly non-kosher) play a major part on menus. And of course, following French and Italian tradition, the combination of dairy and meat (also a kosher faux pas) is considered de rigueur in such restaurants.

Not to misunderstand, there are an increasing number of high quality upswing kosher restaurants, especially in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and many of the ethnic (Moroccan, Tunisian, Eastern European,Ethiopian restaurants) are kosher.

Despite all of which, and as often I have bemoaned, Israel is one of the few countries in the world in which you cannot get a decent hot pastrami sandwich!!!

Best
Rogov

P.S. Apropos: It is said that there are only three important questions in this life:

(a) Is there life after death? - Odysseus
(b) Is there life after birth? - Hamlet
(c) Is there life without bacon? - Dick Gregory

Chloelys Brings Home the Bacon


Errr.. not a phrase particularly appropriate to an Israeli forum I'd have thought ???

Just what I was thinking, Peter!

Robert, Hello....

As I tried to clarify in my first post on this thread, non-kosher foods are simply not as "strange" in Israel as many think. Although precise details are difficult to come by, only somewhere between 40-50% of Jewish Israelis observe kashrut both at home and outside and between 60-70% maintain kashrut only at home. It is true that many of even the most secular who do not observe kashrut in general will avoid pork, shellfish and the combination of meat and dairy but that more because of childhood memories than for reasons of either religion or tradition.

With specific regard to bacon and other pork products, those have been made in Israel since the inception of the state, much on Kibbutz Mizra and a smaller but significant amount by Christian-owned butchers. Finding bacon, pork chops, spare ribs and other such items in Israel has never been difficult.

As an interesting side-note, recent years have seen an increase both in the number of those who maintain kashrut at home and an increasing number of truly fine kosher restaurants have been opening, especially in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Whether those trends will continue or not remains to be seen.

Best
Rogov

I very rarely comment about the meals that are served when wineries host wine unveilings and I never publish reviews based on such meals. That is largely for three reasons – first of all because chefs know that wine critics and at least one restaurant and wine critic (me) will be attending, they do their level best to make sure that everyone leaves happy. Second, because these are largely "catered meals", that is to say perhaps with the exception of the main courses, precisely the same meal served to everyone present all at the same time they are unlike the demands that are made during a la carte or ordinary restaurant dining. More than that, because I attend those events primarily in order to taste wines, I rarely stay past the first or second course of those meals.

Yesterday (Friday, 1 August), however, was an exception to the rule. The meal, held after the tasting hosted by the Golan Heights Winery (and reported on at viewtopic.php?f=29&t=17429 ) took place at Victor Gluger's Chloelys restaurant in Tel Aviv. Truth be told, Victor and his staff outdid themselves, enough in fact that I stayed quite comfortably not even willing to give up the dessert. Further truth, I rather enjoyed the company of those of my colleagues who sat near me at the table as well as that of the Ambassador of Costa Rica who sat next to me on one side, Victor Shoenfeld on the other and Shalom Blayer quite nearby.

As to the dishes offered, each of which I sampled:

First Courses

Gravlax with a mustard and Demarara sugar sauce
French anchovies on pain de mei with arugula, feta cheese, and pine nuts
Carpaccio of sea bass with pink Madagascar pepper
Shrimps in anchovy butter with peeled sweet peppers and pumpkin sprouts
Kebab of sea bass with kashkeval cheese and pine nuts

The accompanying wine: Yarden, Blanc de Blanc, 2001


Intermediate Course

A cream of goose liver and black truffle soup

The accompanying wine: Yarden ,Chardonnay, Odem Organic Vineyard, 2006


Main Course

Lamb ossobucco on a bed of potato puree

The accompanying wine: Yarden, Cabernet Sauvignon, El Rom Vineyard, 2004


Dessert

A four part interpretation on the theme of pistachio nuts

The accompanying wine: Yarden, Noble Semillon, 2004


God''s in her heaven and all's well on earth!

Best
Rogov

I dined at Chloelys last night, and was disappointed. I BYO'd a bottle of Corton (2000 Corton from Bonneau du Martray - yes, they do make a red, and this is it...)
While the service was perfectly friendly and courteous, I was surprised at their choice of stems. When I asked for Burgundy glasses all they could find were Barolo glasses - close enough, but surprising given the number of expensive Burgundies on their winelist. More importantly, the stems were from a rather heavy glass and not at all at the level I'd expect. I'm not a Riedel snob, but a midrange Schott or Spiegelau stem would have been infinitely better. The wine service itself was good and the sommelier took great interest in my wine (I offered a taste, as I usually do).

The food was uninspiring. While the restaurant clearly uses superb ingredients, my dover sole meuniere was merely adequate, and so was the bream (buri) that my companion ordered. The seabass carpaccio was good. For the price, I'd rather go to Catit, Raphael, Herbert Samuel or Orca.

Hi Rani,

Well, as trumpeted at the top of this thread, they do have the Wine Spectator award........ (to put this into perspective see viewtopic.php?f=3&t=17860 ). Maybe the $ 250 to WS is a better investment than fragile glassware?

I dined at Chloelys once for lunch, and 'twas just fine. We never felt the urge to go back however, whereas would cheerfully return to Catit or Orca as many times as we can afford.

best,

Mike