Hope you're having an amazing day, it's Mark Wiens in Tel-Aviv
We're going on another food tour today, and I'm not sure all the places that David is taking us today
But I do know that we're gonna go to what he considers to be the best of the best fish restaurants in all of Israel
So we're on our way to start eating, and I can't wait to share the food with you today
We're on our way... to Ashdod(David) and it's an ancient city
David's gonna take us to some gems, it is a ancient city but it is a new city.
It like a biblical--- it appears in the bible, but today, it's Motor City
So today we are going to see three amazing places
(Music)
That was about a 30 minute drive to Ashdod
And we have made it here and the first place that we're stopping on this food tour is known as the old lady
And I'm not sure exactly what she prefers, but anything cooked by the old lady
You know it's gonna be amazing, and we've just arrived here. She has some tables set up
It's almost like a it almost kind of looks like a park here, and then this is the stall
Thank you (Mark)
The smell is amazing
Okay, it is okay we will wait.
We arrived here, we're a little bit early and this this is a beautiful beautiful place
She is the most amazing grandmother
Can smell the aroma of the fish? She's already greeted Micah with a kiss oh?
I love this place already, and I love grandma already
The food's gonna be ready in about 30 minutes, but we're giving grandma some some privacy some some time to finish cooking otherwise
We'll just be talking and trying to smell the entire time oh
She is a beautiful a beautiful grandma
I think she opens right at 11:00 so we got here early
but literally she sell out people local people have said that she sells out within 30 minutes or an hour, so this is a
local gem here
Thank you
The wait is over all of her cooking is ready and the food
Okay of anywhere you travel in the world
this is the best type of food experience you can possibly have a
Friendly amazing grandmother home cooking they just set up these tables right in the park
I don't even know if this this is kind of a halfway between a park and just a walkway
Sidewalk through the neighborhood. They set out the tables here. This is a friendly environment
Home cooking by Grandma, it doesn't get better than this anywhere in the world
This is Moroccan style Jewish food
And this is the type of cuisine I've never had before look at that spice in there
You can see the red oil you can see the chilies on there
You can see the garlic you see you can smell the garlic and this is one is tuna
Caught right here from the Mediterranean Sea. It's absolutely stunning
It's it's beautiful beyond description. You can see some
Look at this spice. Just caked up onto that tuna. Oh, wow okay. I have to just taste this
Oh, yeah
That's spice blend there are Chilis' in there it has a kind of a little
Sourish taste as well
There's garlic in there oh
That's good follow with some of those cucumbers that she was making
Mmm!
Even those simple cucumbers are amazing it's very very light
Maybe some olive oil, and then she you can see little pieces of parsley in there
And the parsley is what really comes through nicely. This is a mixture of both tongue and head beef and
It looks like to be a similar stew
Just get a close-up look all that is some that is some fragrant oil that you're gonna want to soak up
Oh, that's melt-in-your-mouth. Oh, it's so tender
The flavor that dry chili you can really taste the spice blend in there that is insane
Wow!
That's actually stunning follow that with some cucumbers
They also have another chilli sauce here so for my next bite
I'll grab a piece of that tuna and let me go into that chilli sauce
It's like tomatoey I think to like dried tomatoes it tastes like you can taste the onions in there
There's a little bit of chilli as well. It's absolutely sensational. Oh yeah, they're seedless already
Everything has that same red chili flavor to it. This is my kind of food grab a piece of fish oh
And I'm gonna go in for some of that chili sauce as well may as well
This is a place I want to just hang out for the rest of the day
I want to do a quick test to show you how tender this meat is
This is fork tender and not only not only fork tender but plastic fork tender we get that
The tuna is awesome
But the the mixture of tongue and cow head
This is the the dish that is the dish
I'm a very happy man
(Music)
We drove over to the next spot, and this is a legendary place
And he serves they specialize in
Tunisian sandwiches and it's a big
It's a big blob of like fried dough fried dough bread, and then I don't even know what's all outside
But I can't wait to watch him assemble this and that's my friend Morris
He is well known in the whole country for his fricassee which is a Tunisian bread
Filled with tonight's like a Tunisian sandwich.
Said he said everybody all over Israel come here specially just for a sandwich
Not only from Israel; from all over everybody comes to Israel comes to him I told him he is a celebrity and look at him. He looks like
He has been here 30 years
He said um he should be aware because it's gonna be addicting for you once you taste this fricasse say
You will have to come back here
Salad
Potatoes
Tuna
So here it is
this is the beautiful fricassee they first take a piece of dough and
Deep-fry it so it turns to a completely crispy fry bread, then he slices it open
He adds in some harissa, which is that spice blend? He adds into some tomato paste some fresh chilies
there's some potatoes in there some salad some pickled lemon and
Then also he adds in one of the main components is tuna now then he adds in the tuna
He finishes it off with a hard-boiled egg and some capers
Sprinkled on the very top you got to give it a little squish to get that harissa mixed in with all the ingredients
Okay, I can't wait
Oh, yeah
Oh, that's a stunner you've got all that harissa, that chili in there all that flavor is insane!
Mixed with the tuna the egg the the crispness of the the green chilies and the cucumber in there
Wow
But I mean it's it's all those ingredients inside, but really what the foundation of this sandwich is is that fry bread.
But that private is perfect it's crispy and gooey all at the same time
That is a treat oh
Good!
On that bite, I got some of that pickled lemon che Maurice has brought over a little cup of Boukha and Boukha is a Tunisian
Drink made of figs it's a spirit made from figs, and this is one of the yeah
He brought us over a little cup could we said we got to drink this along with the sandwiches
That's some strong stuff
It's good though yeah, yeah, you get you can, you can taste the figs in there
I got some some fig fumes going up my nose right now
Well okay, I'll take another bite of the sandwich.
Wow!
That went down way too easy, and I'm gonna just tell you that that is probably the best tuna sandwich
You will have in your entire life. This is the spot right here
Everything was amazing within that sandwich, but really the standout flavor was that harissa that chili sauce
the flavor explosion was amazing
(Music)
We arrived at the lunch restaurant this place is called pescado
And it's very close to the sea you can see the sea from here and this place specializes in fish
This is a really nice restaurant, and they serve the owner the owners his family origins are from Morocco, and he's the one who actually
Recommended us that first the old lady grandma's restaurant and what I really want to try is this
Fish eggs which is whipped up over here. Take some onions with it. Okay, and fish eggs whipped up with what else?
Mmmm, oh, oh yeah
Like caviar whipped cream mm-hmm, that's
Extremely flavorful and so rich and creamy and this is some more harissa a chili blend sauce
Oh
Spicy yeah a little bit you can taste the to Chilis' taste the herbs in there and the dry spices as well
Got some tomato salad next
That lemon oh
So simple and good next up
They've served us a bunch of different types of sashimi
And there's three different types of tuna this one is tuna with soy sauce
this one is tuna inside a little shell of onion with tahini and
Basil I think and then this one is
Tuna with olive oil and that this one is yellowtail
kind of like a fusion of sashimi with
with local ingredients and local flavors
That's awesome!
Sashimi and tahini and that basil was so so pungent so fresh
That's the type of tuna that just melts in your mouth, oh, it's like pure butter
This is cured Spanish mackerel as well as cured fish eggs. I'm gonna take a little piece of both in one bite
And they make this right here at the restaurant and it's a delicacy
Cut Spanish mackerel oh it's salted
The flavor..
That's like... It's it's somewhere between like jerky texture, and then just moist and then you've got those those
Cured eggs as well
which are
They're wonderfully fishy and delicious. Next dish is a whitefish which has been tossed with
There's some zatar in here there is
Onions and some arugula and some peppers, and then there's also some tahini
I think I'll just go in with my..... and garlic you can see the garlic in there too. This is a beautiful beautiful dish
Look at all that Tahini on the bottom there
ho-ho-man!
It's so nutty from that tahini you can take the Zatar in there, the Thyme, the sesame seeds
The Arugula, and then the little bits of white fish next up. We have a deep-fried fin or like the wing of a meager fish
Wow I'm just gonna break this
Break this off
Oh look at all that steam coming out. Oh, this is like a chicken wing oh look at that!
That is sensational
Oh it's deep-fried so fresh. It's perfectly salty. It's so meaty look at all that meat.
Actually what you can do what I will do is take some.. oh it's hot. I will dip some of that in the harissa.
It's perfectly fresh. I'll open your world
And so you know how much you like spicy we just put the whole stuff
Here on this side
The other side will be like normal.
With Harissa.
It's gonna be so good!
Yeah incredible the next dish has arrived
This is a both Haga omelette and boat Agha is the type of preserved fish eggs look at this beauty?
I'll just slice it in half so we can all see the inside. I think it must be kind of mixed in there
Grab a bite of this
Oh, I think that's all of it on the top shaved on the top
That is nice and fishy, has that salted preserve paste. Ending that beautiful lunch with a cup of espresso a double espresso
This restaurant, it's packed now.
No better way to finish a meal than with a double espresso
We just made it back to Tel Aviv from that day trip food day trip to Ashdod
That was some
Amazing food all the way from grandmas cooking to that gourmet fish experience my favorite meal of the entire day
Was grandma's cooking and those spicy stews that she made
They were just absolutely outstanding!
I loved everything from her cooking to the place where she set up to the park where we ate
But really outstanding food again. I want to say a big. Thank you to my friend David Khalifa
He's the hungry tourist for bringing us to those spots
I'll leave his link in the description box below, and thank you very much for watching this video
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Goodbye, thanks again for watching, and I'll see you on the next video!