Beyond Jachnun and Knaped Bones Soup: Diwan Puts a Fresh Yemeni Kitchen in the Spotlight
About Diwan Chef: Roee Dori Cuisine: Yemeni, local Kosher: Yes Restaurant design: Avital Four Enzel Menu type: Dinner Number of dishes on the menu: 10 Price range: 17 to 128 shekels per dish Address: HaOranim 12, Pardes Hanna, Old Market complex Phone: 0524590218 Opening hours: Sunday to Thursday 6:30 pm to 11:00 pm; Friday 11:00 am to 3:30 pm (brunch) Reservation required: Yes
Diwan is a Yemeni, local chef's hamsa in Pardes Hanna, in the Old Market complex, where several eateries have made it one of the area's most intriguing nightlife hubs. Each business in the complex has a sign that tells the story of the space it occupies; Diwan, for example, operates in a building that once housed a butcher shop. ● The dairy that became a hot name in restaurants arrives in Tel Aviv ● At Hagafen, they know how to talk wine with everyone and pair it with excellent dishes
Behind Diwan are Roee Dori, formerly the chef of Rouge at the Pereh Hotel in the Golan Heights and also responsible for the menu at Bistro Palt in Jaffa, and his partner Neta Isenberg. The two wanted to create a fine casual food bar that looks at Yemen through food, design, aromas and music, but is rooted in the place where it operates, laid-back, effortless Pardes Hanna. The place is kosher and dairy, and on Fridays a Yemeni brunch is served here. On the menu, Maayan Tobiano’s jachnun, the talented kitchen manager’s dish, brown egg salad, malawach, kubaneh, pickled fish and a selection of small plates.
Why we chose it Dori and Isenberg explain that Diwan means a Yemeni poem, and also a salon, or meeting place, in Arab culture. The place lives up to its name and fulfills the promise it contains, an intimate, warm space filled with intoxicating aromas of samneh, dough and hawaij, meant for gathering and creating conversation around the Adeni cuisine of southern Yemen. This is the cuisine of a cosmopolitan port city, shaped over centuries by trade routes, and therefore rich in spices, doughs, fish and cooking techniques influenced by India, East Africa and the Arab world. It is hardly represented in Israel’s high-end restaurant scene, and Diwan gives it a contemporary, personal, intriguing platform that deeply respects tradition. Among the most exciting dishes are nudi with zhug butter and tomatoes, oven-baked pumpkin with coffee hawaij in a pumpkin and orange glaze, and lahoh with sea fish skewer and hilbeh foam. Diwan proves that Yemeni food is much more than jachnun and knaped bones soup.
Chef bio Chef Roee Dori, 30, was born in Katzir and lives in Pardes Hanna with his wife, photographer Yael Yitzhaki. In childhood, he says, he was “a latchkey kid who grew up on instant noodles.” He discovered his love of food at 17 through cooking shows on television. After the army he moved to Hatzavah in the Arava, worked in agriculture and cooked for his friends. From there he continued to Tel Aviv, to Cafe Bacho, Cafe Marsand and the Hader Ochel restaurant. After returning from a trip to Asia, he enrolled in cooking studies at Bishulim, graduated as a class honoree and was sent for an internship at the three-Michelin-star Belgian restaurant Boury. When he returned to Israel he cooked at Tel Aviv restaurants such as L28, Mesheya and Timna, until the city began to weigh on him. The next stop was Rouge, which he led from its opening until its temporary closure during the war. He left the Golan, worked on private dinners and advised restaurants. At the same time he searched for a place of his own in Pardes Hanna. When he arrived at the space in the Old Market, he knew he had found it. “I’m half Yemeni and I grew up on Yemeni food. There was no Friday meal without kubaneh, there was no Saturday morning without jachnun. Hilbeh was part of every meal and zhug was the taste of my childhood. When Erez Komarovsky asked me a while ago what I wanted to cook, I answered immediately, Yemeni soup. That’s where the idea for Diwan started to take shape.”
Signature dish ● Zurbian risotto In research he conducted for the restaurant’s opening, Dori was introduced to zurbian, a festive rice dish served in Aden on holidays and special occasions. Like this entire cuisine, it also bears traces of India and in some ways resembles biryani. Originally, Dori explains, zurbian is served with lamb fat and beef, but at Diwan, which is dairy and fish-based, the meat was replaced with sea fish, and the rice with risotto cooked in fish stock. The result is a rich dish with tomatoes, fried onions, hawaij, potatoes, confit fish, labneh, lemon zest and cilantro.
Instagram dish ● Moukaskas In the streets of Aden they serve moukaskas, a kind of small airy doughnuts dipped in honey. At Diwan they moved to the savory side and turned them into a starter in three versions, the most successful of which is a pillow filled with labneh topped with pickled fish, tomato glaze, shippka cream and rashad, a perfect bite. The two other versions come with goat cheese, one with chard and chili stew, the other with honey and fresh za'atar. Dori’s moukaskas are reminiscent of nigiri: instead of rice, a doughnut; instead of wasabi, shippka cream; instead of soy, tomato glaze. “The first Yemeni nigiri,” Dori laughs, who recently returned from a trip to Japan. “Apparently that influenced the back of my mind.”
Dessert ● Zalabia Dori knows zalabia well from home, fried yeast dough balls reminiscent of Moroccan sfenj. At Diwan they are served with pear jam, coffee hawaij and za'atar, ricotta cream, sugar water and lemon zest. They are fried on site and arrive at the table hot and tempting. Crisp on the outside, soft inside, addictive. If you still have room, do not skip the hawaij panna cotta. It is served with caramelized jala and fig leaf syrup. What a delight.
Wine and alcohol menu The wine and alcohol list is small and functional, “also so as not to compete with Drinkeria, the neighboring cocktail bar,” Isenberg explains. The limited wine selection is meant to accompany the relatively spiced, light food, and includes bottles from Feldstein, Lahet, Vitkin and Tulip. The cocktails are by Yonatan Yeraon, a childhood friend of Dori and a partner since the days of the Pereh Hotel. The menu includes four cocktails: gin sour with thyme syrup; “Samna,” whiskey washed in brown butter; an arak cocktail that provides the required anise note; and “Finjan,” a local take on the espresso martini with black coffee syrup and coffee hawaij.
Service We ended the meal with Yemeni chai, which resembles Indian chai but relies less on black tea and more on hawaij. In general, hawaij is a foundational spice blend in the cuisine here and comes in different versions, sweet and savory. Diwan is a casual but carefully executed place to go out. The food is precise, the service is pleasant and the atmosphere relaxed.
What we ate 3 moukaskas, 55 shekels Kubaneh tray, 46 shekels Oven-baked pumpkin with hawaij, 51 shekels Nudi with zhug butter and tomatoes, 76 shekels Lahoh, sea fish skewer and hilbeh foam, 82 shekels Zurbian risotto, 92 shekels Zalabia, 38 shekels Total for 2 diners, excluding tip and drinks: 440 shekels
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