This June, Omer Shadmi Muller and Daniel Zur of critically acclaimed Tel Aviv restaurant, Alena at The Norman hotel, will be joining culinary hub Carousel, in London's Fitzrovia, for a week-long residency.
From 7-11 June, Omer and Daniel will bring their European-inspired dishes with a Mediterranean & Galilean flourish to London for a second time, having previously collaborated with the Carousel team for five sell-out nights in 2020.
Having risen through the ranks of world-renowned kitchens - including The Barbary, River Café (London), Pauly Saal (Berlin) and L28 (Tel Aviv) - Omer and Daniel draw inspiration and use techniques from their global experience and fuse them with their childhood knowledge of the Israeli landscape and ingredients.
At Alena, located within Tel Aviv’s first luxury boutique hotel The Norman, the duo take their European training and apply it to local cuisines, embracing the local food culture and their Galilean heritage.
Having both been raised in the Jezreel Valley in Lower Galilee, lifelong friends Omer and Daniel have drawn inspiration from their childhood for their six course menu at Carousel. The residency will see a mixture of their signature plates as well as some specially crafted new dishes, all of which draw upon their Galilean heritage and traditions.
The menu includes:
> 'Road Style' Bagels - served with two different toppings, zaatar & sumac onions and grated tomatoes & spicy mashwia - with grilled chili & sweet pepper salad
> Galilean seviche, yogurt with lemoni almonds
> Roasted cabbage, beef jus & pine nuts.
> Beef or lamb tartar, smoked aioli & crispy cabbage
> Galilee egg yolk Raviolo, feta cheese, aubergine, oregano butter & lemon
> Lamb chops with broad beans masabacha, herbs salsa
> Pistachio basbusa & yoghurt
The residency will also feature a stand-out cocktail menu tailor-made by the Carousel team, with drinks on offer including Return of Sumac, an aromatic take on the gin sour made with The Botanist Gin, sumac, honey, lemon and aquafaba; and Instant Carmel, a refreshing gimlet made from The Botanist Gin, preserved lemon and oregano syrup and lemon.
On their upcoming residency, Daniel shared, “We are coming to London to demonstrate our take on new Israeli cuisine, which in our case focuses on flavours from the lush green Galileen area in the North of the country.”
Omer further commented, 'Outside of Israel, we allow ourselves to really illuminate local influences more than we would at home. Our dining philosophy , as a team , is that great dining experiences should be simple & fun, with outstanding flavour being the most poignant memory our guests go away with.”
