Maraboo offers Mediterranean cuisine that excels in both taste and presentation.
By LIDAR GRAVÉ-LAZImaraboo rump steak on a skewer_311(photo credit: Courtesy)
Maraboo, located in Ramat Gan near the stock exchange, recently launched a new summer menu featuring a wide array of signature dishes with a gourmet touch.The restaurant features a soft and warm design, including a window that offers guests a peek into the open kitchen, creating an all-round inviting and intimate dining atmosphere. Also available is an elegant private dining room that can seat up to 20 guests for special occasions.Chef Yoav Bar, one of the foremost chefs in Israel today, fuses Israeli cuisine with Mediterranean style cooking. Every item on the menu receives special attention and showcases dishes unique to Maraboo in both taste and presentation.“I wanted the summer menu to be lighter, using only the freshest ingredients of the summer season,” explains Bar.To whet your appetite, start with the stir-fried calamari with scorched eggplant, white beans, feta cheese, hot peppers and lemon (NIS 46) or the rump steak on a skewer with humous and lemon cream, humous grains, roasted peppers, arissa and parsley (NIS 48).Bar adds a special touch in the restaurant’s signature dish, the exquisite soft truffle gnocchi with coquilles St. Jacques, mushrooms and Parmesan (NIS 56), creating an extraordinary appetizer I couldn’t get enough of.The main courses are no less than extraordinary. The fish fillet on seafood with mosit tomatoes, fish stock and kalamata olives (NIS 125) was truly exceptional. This chic dish is perfect for seafood lovers, offering an explosion of taste in a league of its own.Another dish that is as impressive in its presentation as it is for its flavor is the lamb hamburger with croustini, mixed leaves, raw tahini, kalamata olives and balsami (NIS 78). The addition of Mediterranean style influences to the traditional burger transforms this dish into a unique and simply delicious hamburger.The prices at Maraboo are higher end and tend to climb with the quality and uniqueness of the dishes. The main courses range from pasta with spinach, black lentils, baby carrots and cherry tomatoes (NIS 68) to the most exclusive item on the menu, the beef fillet with truffle cream, asparagus and carignan sauce (NIS 142).However, the restaurant boasts a very reasonably priced business lunch that includes an appetizer and a main course, between noon and 5 p.m. seven days a week.If after all that food (and the portions are extremely generous), you find you still have room for dessert, then the Nemesis chocolate cake is a winner. Bar creates the perfect dessert for chocolate lovers in a chocolate cake with caramel ice cream, pears, pistachio and white chocolate tuille (NIS 46). The goat cheese cake coated with crispy tuille and lemon sorbet (NIS 42) is also an exceptional dessert and a specialty of the chef.What more is left to say about the Maraboo dining experience? Nothing more, other than: I have already made reservations for next week.The writer was a guest of the restaurant. Maraboo, Rehov Abba Hillel 14, Beit Oz, Ramat Gan Tel: (03) 603-6666. Not kosher Sun.-Fri. from noon until the last guest. Sat. from noon to 5 p.m.
