Let me start this post with a sensational confession. When I was a kid and traveled to Paris with my parents, the thing I loved to eat the most was… a McDonald’s burger. I have no idea what made me love this disgusting patty, maybe it was my childish sense of taste or maybe the fact that in the 80s there was no McDonald’s branch in Israel. And so for years, eating a burger at the McDonald’s branch on the Champs-Elysees was the culinary pinnacle of my trip. Luckily, as I got older, my taste refined, and somewhere in the early XNUMXs, I began to despise McDonald’s and everything it represents. And so “thanks” to McDonald’s and its ilk, the burger was synonymous with inferior street food in my eyes, and anyone who accidentally told me that they had eaten at McDonald’s in Paris would receive a snort of contempt from me (if they had eaten at Quick, they would have received a look full of pity). But something happened in the Paris burger scene in recent years and the meatball underwent a massive upgrade. Suddenly, restaurants started serving it and quite a few stands opened up serving gourmet burgers with exciting combinations like Roquefort cheese or foie gras. And so my relationship to the patty on a bun slowly began to change.
The first time a hamburger managed to move me since my distant childhood was, of course, in Paris. In a kind of act of historical correction (or perhaps you would say foolishness), I ordered a hamburger at a restaurant The Gourmet Slate , which is not far from Gare du Nord, and from the first bite I was simply amazed. The richness of flavors created by the combination of confit tomatoes, thinly sliced pineapple, fine aioli sauce and of course excellent meat, was unlike anything I had experienced before. To this day I remember that taste and from time to time, when I happen to be in the area, I return to visit there and until now I have not been disappointed.
Gourmet 26 comes from France
To my delight, I recently managed to recreate that same feeling when I visited “Hamburger Gourmet 26” in Tel Aviv, owned and managed by Miriam Ben Harosh, who immigrated from Marseille a few years ago. When I entered the place, I met Miriam, who had a smile on her face, and she told me how she decided to open a burger restaurant in Tel Aviv inspired by restaurants Blend Parisian. The atmosphere in the place was happy and fun, despite the oppressive Tel Aviv heat outside, and I was even happy to find the Francophile mustache on the small bucket where the cutlery was.
It turns out that I arrived just in time for the business lunch and a bottle of delicious iced tea was immediately served to the table. After we went over the menu, I decided to order a hamburger with truffle aioli and fries, while my dinner partner ordered a Dolce burger with apples and blue cheese, accompanied by a green salad with Roquefort cheese. We sat comfortably, enjoying the atmosphere and talking about the trip to Paris that was fast approaching, and then the dishes arrived. As soon as I bit into the brioche bun, I felt a taste of heaven. The meat was simply excellent and the truffle aioli enhanced its flavor even more. The sweet potato fries added a crunchy touch to the dish, creating a kind of symphony of flavors and textures, which made the experience almost perfect. I didn't get to taste the Dolce burger, but from the veiled look and the smile that spread across my dinner partner's lips, I realized that I had no choice and that next time I would have to try what she ate. The fries themselves were lovely and went great with themayonnaise Homemade served with it.
And so, while devouring my hamburger, I came to the conclusion that if one day Americans were to kidnap me and decide to execute me for excessive Francophilia, then without a doubt the hamburger I ate here would star in the Last Supper, both because of its taste and because of the Francophile statement in the American stronghold 🙂
The address of the restaurant
26 Mikveh Israel Street, Tel Aviv