Cooking class If you’re more in the mood for meat, Roberg in Livnim is the place to go. The restaurant, located on a hill overlooking the Kinneret, has prepared five different festival dishes, each served with an excellent hot chocolate liqueur and a glass of Carmel wine. Chef Ilan Roberg has prepared appetizers using fish from the Kinneret and meat and poultry entrees with locally grown date honey, mushrooms and avocado. The chicken breast stuffed with dried fruit is highly recommended for diners with a sweet tooth. Roberg is a familyrun restaurant, and the chef’s daughter, pastry chef Tammy Flenner, makes a dessert flavored with fruits of the region: ice cream covered in date honey and tehina, with baked bananas in banana liqueur syrup.A plasma screen in the restaurant shows a live feed from the kitchen, where diners can watch their food being prepared. During the festival, visitors can learn to prepare food in a Hanukka cooking class, and there will be candle lighting for families.Roberg, Livnim, (04) 671-5656, www.roberg.co.il. Kosher.Miracle of the fish If you need proof of how local the fish served at the festival is, visit Kibbutz Ein Gev, where on Monday, December 6, you can take a ride on a fishing boat. This may be the last chance to see fishing in the Kinneret because the Knesset recently announced a two-year ban starting on January 1. In the meantime, the kibbutz offers a ride on a real fishing boat, with an explanation of how tilapia, sardines and other fish are caught in giant nets. Make sure to dress appropriately for the boat ride. You’ll get wet and you will smell like fish, but the trip is fun and refreshing, especially in the warm weather.Kibbutz Ein Gev has a 70-year-old fish restaurant offering fish and chips with felafel and tehina in honor of the festival, along with locally grown dates for dessert, and a South American-style bistro serving a festival dish of date soup and veal in wine sauce. Combined tickets for the boat ride and a meal are available.Kibbutz Ein Gev boat rides, December 6, 1:30 to 3 p.m. (04) 665-8036, 054-565-8006.
Fish Restaurant, Kibbutz Ein Gev, (04) 665-8008. Kosher.
Bistro at the Port, Kibbutz Ein Gev, (04) 665-8037. Not kosher. www.eingev.com Ugata try thisIf you didn’t give in to temptation and sample desserts at the festival’s many restaurants, stop by Ugata, a bakery in Kibbutz Kinneret that offers mouth-watering treats. Just in time for Hanukka, pastry chef Dudi Barzilai is offering delicious doughnuts. Yes, you read that right, doughnuts with a hole in the middle, not sufganiot.Ugata has prepared the hard-to-find (in Israel, at least) dessert gourmet-style, filling them with mascarpone cream, date honey, chocolate-banana cream or crème patisserie, and covered in white, milk or dark chocolate ganache with sprinkles or nuts. Ugata is offering a doughnut-making workshop for those who want to try to recreate the dish at home.If you’d like to have a meal before dessert, Ugata also has a café to go with the bakery and is serving a festival dish of sea bream with freshly made fettuccini in cream sauce.
Doughnut-making workshop, December 5-8 at 3 and 5 p.m. Advance reservations necessary. Ugata, Kibbutz Kinneret, (04) 675-9687, www.ugatabakery.com For more information on the Taste of the Kinneret festival, as well as additional festival venues, visit: http://www.kinneret.info/.