ISRAEL : Quattro – Mid-week lunch menu you don’t want to miss
Quattro, the little sister of Chef Aviv Moshe’s restaurant Messa, opened a few months ago with a huge buzz on one hand and tepid reviews on the other hand.
Honestly, I was surprised.
I ate at Messa once, quite a while ago, but that meal was etched in my mind as a particularly successful one – especially because of their complex dishes that manage to combine special tastes and art in an extraordinary way on our plates, with an emphasis on the tiniest details.
It’s true that it’s a relatively grandiose and exaggerated way to serve dishes compared to the classic Israeli market – but the bottom line is that all of the dishes I tasted during that meal were simply excellent.
This is exactly why I was so surprised – how could a chef with such a successful restaurant like Messa that’s open for more than 10 years, manage to fail in the niche of Italian restaurants {or as the chef described – Modern Italian}?
I’ll give you a spoiler – we went back to Quattro two weeks after the lunch menu I’ll write about here, even though we usually don’t like going back to restaurants so frequently in a short time – and that says a lot…
Quattro is located on HaArba’a Street (as hinted by the restaurant’s name in Spanish – Quattro = HaArba’a = Four), right near the Messa restaurant.
The restaurant’s décor was a bit difficult for me to digest – it was very grandiose, and over the top. Definitely not what I expected when I went to an Italian restaurant, not even from one defined as a modern Italian restaurant.
Even though Messa’s décor is also grandiose, the tones there are a little more subdued and easy to digest.
I’m assuming that that was the designer’s intention, since the restaurant’s logo is kind of a clown’s mask, so the circus-y design with an African tendency, including chairs with especially high backrests, a tribal black and white print on the floor, long and colorful beaded necklaces that hung over the bar and other theatrical elements that were slightly exaggerated, connected to the general vibe the place tried to convey.
Not my taste, but there’s no doubt that the design is special and that a lot of thought went into it {and a nice amount of money…}.
We sat on the restaurant’s outdoor patio, which also feels a bit like a circus-y jungle with dozens of huge palm trees.
The price of Quattro’s lunch menu is reasonable {especially relatively to Messa} and it costs 84 NIS, before upgrades, with a choice from four starters and five main courses. Of course, if you decide to upgrade your meal {an additional 10-38 NIS per dish} the options double, but you can certainly equally enjoy the non-upgraded dishes on the menu.
We started our meal with two cocktails: Singapore {56 NIS} – consisting of Cointreau, Cherry Heering, lemon juice, pineapple and vanilla extract, that was perfect in terms of the balance between flavors {honestly, for this price I wouldn’t expect any less…}; and a lunch cocktail – a tropical mimosa with vanilla extract and caramelized pineapple.
We couldn’t ignore the focaccia and dips {an additional 18 NIS} offered at the beginning of the menu {there’s nothing like warm bread…} and we got a piece of a particularly good focaccia brushed with a lot of olive oil alongside a plate with olive oil, a little tomato sauce, balsamic vinegar, confit garlic and excellent olives.
There’s no doubt that this was an excellent start for the meal, especially an Italian one, but I would’ve been happier to get a bit more of each of the ingredients.
Appetizers
For the appetizers we ordered carpaccio {without upgrades} and Gordo Pomodoro {an additional 10 NIS} –
Let's start with the carpaccio dish which was the most surprising and special dish of the meal – it’s an absolute MUST.
We got a beautiful plate consisting of pickled rump steak, protein cream, parmesan curls, special cheese sticks I've yet to eat anything like them – a combination of salty and sweet, a small salad from fresh market vegetables and the biggest surprise – mustard sorbet! It sounds a bit strange but it’s a genius invention, which managed to majorly upgrade a dish that was already very successful.
Do yourself a favor – order this dish along with the focaccia and prepare the perfect bite – focaccia + a little protein + rump steak + mustard sorbet + parmesan = an explosion of flavors.
We still can’t get over this dish…
The Gordo Pomodoro was made of many elements and textures {slices of raw fish, tomato seeds, basil yogurt, black eggplant cream, celery, radish, chili and shallots} was a colorful piece of art and aesthetic in itself, and was also completely wiped out.
In addition, they brought us a treat from the kitchen – the Caprese salad {no extra upgrades} – in terms of flavors it’s the closest thing to the original Italian dish and in terms of presentation is the best reflection of Aviv Moshe’s touch with attention to the smallest details – three hills of fresh tomatoes, basil, excellent and juicy mozzarella cheese and on top of everything, crispy parmesan with red dots.
Mains
For the main course I ordered the Olio de Oliva {without upgrades or additions}- a great dish with 2 slices of plump fish resting on fresh pasta with a sauce made from olive oil, tomatoes, roasted eggplant on the grill and a little hot sauce {you can ask for it on the side}.
I usually don’t like dishes that combine pasta and fish but this dish was great and the flavors were so special.
The only downfall of this dish was the ratio of the pasta compared to the fish – a little more pasta and it would’ve been perfectly balanced in my opinion.
Daniel ordered the lamb stew {an additional 20 NIS} – an excellent slow-cooked dish with deep flavors, consisting of lamb neck that had a very soft texture, potatoes, sweet potatoes and mushrooms in herbs and lamb stock.
Dessert
For dessert we ordered the love dessert {52 NIS} that was served in a clear glass {which wasn’t polished enough, as you can see in the picture…} and consisted of layers of a sour passion fruit cream, white chocolate mousse, excellent white chocolate crunch, strawberry sorbet, mini brûlée and strawberry macaroons – I don’t really like fruity desserts and I still really enjoyed it, especially because of the fun texture combination.
There’s no doubt that this dessert isn’t cheap at all and it would have been nice if they would have offered some desserts with special prices for the lunch menu…
The Bottom Line
Quattro is one of the best restaurants I’ve been to lately – so yes, the interior design wasn’t exactly to my taste, but the dishes were so special and they put so much effort into the details, the service was excellent and the mid-week lunch menu was worthwhile because they offered so many wonderful options without having to add additional money for upgrades.
