This write up
was submitted by Jonathan Steiner . (Jonny@eluna.com)
Write up a restaurant and win a prize if it is published on eLuna.com.
See contest for details. |
Chef Eyal Vaknin, owner of Fortuna, has the right idea. If you have a restaurant that is based on serving meat and more meat there is no need for dessert. That is kind of the thought behind Fortuna, the new restaurant located just off Agrippas near Machane Yehuda in Jerusalem. The atmosphere is great in that it is a bit more formal than your average Israeli grill but still comfortable enough to relax in any time of day. In addition, the central but off the beaten path location adds to the laid back ambiance.
The chairs are dark brown, the seats white, and the interior is decorated in red and white. Spartan to be sure but the red glass chandelier ties things together nicely. Aside from the tables inside are two refrigerated cases one with meats, the other with the day's salads. I say that because as Chef Eyal explained to us they make a new array of salads everyday so what you ate your first time is not what you will get on subsequent visits. Very clever. More on the salads in a bit.
We were seated by a pleasant waitress who gave us our menus and explained that they did not have sweetbreads. I was slightly disappointed being a fan of offal but my wife seemed relieved. The menu is two pages. One side describes all the different meats, the other has a few sandwiches and drinks. The meat side of the menu includes schnitzel, grilled chicken breast, hamburgers, pargiyot, skewers, steaks, veal, and more. As I mentioned before, no dessert. I liked that in that it conveyed a certain confidence on behalf of the chef that his food is so good dessert is unnecessary.
My wife ordered the entrecote skewers, and I the house mixed grill, which includes beef, chicken and chicken liver. Almost as soon as we had ordered our waitress brought our drinks and a bunch of salads with toasted pita. Some of the highlights included a lentil salad with a light vinaigrette dressing. The lentils were cooked slightly al dente which I love and added to the texture. My wife loved the matbucha which had a strong fresh tomato flavor and nice heat at the end. There was also a pickled beat salad that had just the right flavor to cut the sweetness of the beets while retaining that great earthy natural flavor.
Our waitress then brought us the fries that come with every meal. These are homemade and seasoned perfectly, so eat them while they are hot. Just don't ruin your appetite because the meat is on the way.
The main courses are served very simply on big white plates. My mixed grill was seasoned with cumin and a bit of salt and pepper. The meats were cooked perfectly everything soft and tender. The best part was how the chicken livers were so soft they began to almost melt, coating the rest of the dish with their delicate creaminess. My wife's entrecote was also cooked well and had very little seasoning on it allowing the flavor of the meat to shine through.
All in all we had a very pleasant meal, and it only ran us around NIS 200. |
