The Times
Charlotte Ivers offered a pretty damning account of this spinoff venue from the influential Israeli chef and writer at a grim shopping mall people by bored super-rich teenagers, which she characterised as “cashing in” on his “real, culture-changing success”.
Part of the problem was that, through his books and TV shows, Ottolenghi has educated us in how Middle Eastern food should taste. “This place is playing his classics and it’s a bad cover version,” she said. The aubergine was undercooked, “everything tastes of turmeric”, and the mac and cheese “tastes like pasta made by adding boiling water to a bag of supermarket dust”.
In his mission statement back in 2011, Charlotte reminded us, Ottolenghi declared “I want drama in the mouth”. “I’d settle for a hint of plot,” she retorted.
Charlotte Ivers - 2024-05-26
