Tel Aviv restaurant wins award in Abu Dhabi

The Drisco Hotel’s George & John restaurant has been named the Best Restaurant in Israel and the sixth Best Restaurant in the Middle East and North Africa at the the annual World’s 50 Best Awards. Chef Tomer Tal and The Drisco Hotel CEO and founder Avi Zak were at the ceremony in Abu Dhabi to accept the award.

“We are truly honored to be recognised for our commitment to quality, innovative cuisine that celebrates the best of local ingredients here in Israel,” said Tomer. “This award is a testament to our craft in the kitchen and our imagination for what modern Middle Eastern cuisine can be. We will keep striving to please the world’s most discerning diners.”

Avi Zak stated: “In 2018, I met Tomer Tal and invited him to join me in realising a dream: to open Israel’s best restaurant in Israel’s best hotel. Happily, Tomer accepted the offer, and we have been working nonstop since then to realise our common vision. It’s not easy, and it can be difficult at times, but when two people want something so strongly and are surrounded by a determined and talented team, anything is possible. We completed our first mission after five challenging years. Our next goal is to join the Michelin guide and make the list of the world’s 50 best restaurants, for which we will continue to improve and work hard for our valued customers.”

Tomer draws on combines flavours and recipes from his Jewish-Moroccan heritage. Each beautifully plated dish tells its own story, showing an aspect of the local eastern Mediterranean cuisine. George & John’s home, a 19th-century construction in the heart of Tel Aviv-Jaffa’s American Colony neighborhood, is a source of continual inspiration to the chef and his dedicated team. The founding brothers, after whom the establishment is named, set up shop in one of the country’s first modern hotels; the rest is history. The hotel now hosts Jaffa’s first wine bar and outdoor grill. Several kinds of charcoal-based grills and smokers are used in the kitchen: the hand-chopped kebab is prepared in a small, traditional Middle Eastern classic grill; while wild local cabbage is smoked in a clay pot smoker, set in George & John’s garden.

One of the restaurant’s signature dishes is the tuna carpaccio, served with black garlic sauce, puffed tapioca in dashi and seasonal herbs and juicy Medjool dates. For a taste of the grill, opt for the lamb chops in charcoal, slow-roasted with a tahdig (traditional Persian scorched rice) tart and glazed quince.