Shaham Street in Petah Tikva is a veritable restaurant row, in the center of which is a square building that houses nothing but casual restaurants. One of them is 206 Grill Bar, an offshoot of the venerable 206 Meat and Fish restaurant tandem in Zahala, with an interior whose décor is part sports bar, with plenty of al fresco sidewalk seating.
The Hebrew and English menus are separate for lunch and dinner, but they have two things in common. One is a bill of fare that is predominantly meat and chicken, with a few fish dishes. There are not a lot of options for vegetarians (although there is a children’s menu, in Hebrew only).
The second shared feature is specially discounted weekday (Sunday to Thursday) business meals. At lunchtime, they start as low as NIS 49. At dinner, there are three meals priced at NIS 206, designed for parties of two and four diners. And that is the cost of the meal for the whole table, not per person.
First, however, all meals start with nine mezze salads, served with piping hot pitot. One may also request toasted pita with za’atar and sesame seeds.
Notable among the salads were a minty tabouleh, al dente cubed beets, a zesty Turkish salad, creamy egg salad and crunchy falafel balls. Included among the mezze were three kinds of tehina –plain, with cauliflower and with eggplant – but not hummus, which is available for an extra charge, starting at NIS 25.
The set meals for four people come in two formats: either “all you can eat” Arab kebabs or a more varied smorgasbord, comprising chicken skewers, chicken heart skewers, Arab kebabs, and chicken liver. Each meal comes with a choice of two side dishes and soft drinks.
The meal for two is quite different: “bottomless beer” – endless glasses of draft Heineken or Goldstar to go with a large bucket of chicken wings and four chorizo sausages.
We sampled the kebab patties, which were authentically seasoned and grilled well done, as well as the juicy and flavorful morsels of chicken breast.
We also enjoyed our side dishes: the crispy French fries, served directly in their fryer basket, and the majadara – rice with black lentils, accented nicely by caramelized onion.
More good news here is that even if you build your own dinner from the regular menu, two people would have no trouble coming in at under NIS 206 for both.
The most expensive item on the menu, for example, is the entrecôte steak (NIS 111), which was recommended to us by the waiter. Although it was not thick, the kitchen managed to grill it as we requested – medium, with a pink center – and it was surprisingly succulent.
There are four desserts, explained by the wait staff. Again, I listened to the recommendation of our waiter and watched as he placed in front of us a huge brick of snow-white Bavarian cream, drenched in chocolate sauce and topped with slivered almonds. This is certainly meant to be shared, perhaps even by four people. Mercifully, it is light as chiffon, so even after a heavy meat meal, the sweet fluff goes down easily.
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