Last update - 01:29 04/12/2008
Dining Out / Well worth the journey
By Daniel Rogov
As seems to be the case with many of Haifa's better restaurants, getting to the recently opened Vintage is quite the journey. One has to pass through a neglected and rundown street and an even more decrepit parking lot in the lower part of Haifa just to reach the restaurant.
Happily, and almost magically, the area transforms once you enter a courtyard with beautiful palm trees and lovely old stone buildings.
The restaurant interior is fully modern, as are the large, dark, plate-glass windows that front the venue.
The high ceiling, tall columns, hues of white, brown and beige and antique lighting fixtures all come together in an uncluttered way that cannot help but please. Ironed tablecloths, a small collection of antique kitchen bric-a-brac, each piece in its own frame, and a wall designed to hold wine bottles, all add to the aesthetic appeal.
We were three for lunch and the first appetizer I sampled was the vichyssoise. Call this soup parmentier, like the French, or potato soup, but this was a fine example indeed of potatoes, leeks and onions cooked with chicken stock, butter, cream and salt and pepper. The soup, whose texture was ever so slightly coarse, was served piping hot. Rich and creamy, the soup was creatively topped with two crisply fried slices of banana, instead of the usual chives.
My next sampling, a well-made and creamy risotto, was seasoned with cumin, tossed with a generous quantity of finely chopped coquilles St. Jacques and topped with several large, succulent grilled coquilles.
One of my companions opted to build her meal only from two appetizers, both of which I sampled. The first was a generous portion of grilled jumbo shrimp served in a shrimp stock sauce made from the heads and shells of shrimp and enriched with coriander, garlic and white wine.
The shrimp was as fresh as one could have wanted and the sauce was good enough to finish off with the dark raisin bread served with it.
From there, it was on to a cold dish of salmon lightly pickled in cider vinegar and served with a creamy mixture and topped with just salty enough salmon eggs. Like the dishes that had come before, the salmon, sprinkled with a mustard vinaigrette and served on a bed of young spinach leaves, was a treat.
After a brief break, we moved on to our main courses. I ordered a seared pork chop, done medium to keep the meat juicy, which had a rim of tasty fat intact. Spooned over the meat were the juices in which the chop had been fried, enriched with hints of what I believe was apple brandy.
My companion opted for the fillet of sea bass, which had an Asian touch - a sauce of soy sauce, ginger and lemongrass. With the skin of the fish blackened and perfectly crisp, the fish was just soft enough to eat only with a fork.
The side dish, baked root vegetables, was garnished with thin slivers of ginger and black and white sesame seeds.
Because it was a pleasant day, we moved to a table outdoors, under the palm trees, for dessert and coffee. We shared a baba au rhum, a dish that has vanished from most Israeli restaurants because many consider it "too 1950's."
All of which is rather a shame because this dessert, made from a rich sponge cake, soaked in rum and filled with sweet whipped cream, is one of the classics of Alsatian cuisine.
In the version we received, instead of the traditional whipped cream was a creamy blend of goat's cheese, sweet cream and vanilla.
In short, a lovely dessert, as was the other we tried, a sinfully rich chocolate parfait that had been seasoned with pepper and juniper berries much in the Mexican style.
Chef Yaron Azoulay is doing a fine job, his dishes happily without pretense or tricks but well executed and with close attention to cooking times and the quality of the ingredients.
Our food bill for three came to NIS 550. The wine list is a good one here and we started off with a bottle of Vitkin's white Israeli Voyage (NIS 100) and followed that with a bottle of Yarden Merlot (NIS 140).
Considering the charming atmosphere, and the overall quality of the dishes and service, it is certainly worth multiple visits.
Vintage: Kikar Kiyat 2, Haifa, entrance from Yaffo 24. Tel: (077) 550-2330. Open Monday-Saturday, noon-15 P.M. and 7-11 P.M.