Pedro


And to get the full experience, we asked our new neighbors which restaurant will be worth going to. Pedro, they all said, and we took their advice

This visit to Eilat, we've decided to explore the most touristic city in Israel from a different angle – the local one. We stayed at a friend's house while he was out of town, spent our mornings eating home-made breakfast and then taking the bus to the beach. And to get the full experience, we asked our new neighbors which restaurant will be worth going to. Pedro, they all said, and we took their advice.

Pedro was established in Eilat about 17 years ago. Last year it was bought by a group of new owners, who are also responsible for some other eateries in Eilat. They gave the restaurant a serious upgrade: improved service, fine meat brought from the north of the country, and a new wine bar which will be opened during the summer.

And so we started with mushrooms filled with Roquefort cheese, oven baked to perfection, and served in the right temperature, which allowed us to slide them right into our mouth, and to finish the entire plate in no more than a minute. Our second order was taken of the specials menu, and I shall use this stage to call the owners to put it in the regular menu: it was eggplant with tomato cubes and lamb portions – wonderfully done.

Chablis – French white wine - escorted our meal and proved that Pedro's staff knows how to match the proper wine to a dish, as well as keep surprising its guests.

And on to our main course: the 5 lamb chops that came to our table are still making me smile, thousands of miles away from Eilat. They were juicy, soft and moist – supreme meat that I never so being served so generously.

We happily accepted the owner's steak recommendation – 300 grams of sirloin wrapped in a thin layer of fat. I hope the best restaurants in Tel Aviv will forgive me, but I have to say, they can learn a lot from Pedro about how to handle meat.

We've already spent 3.5 hours in the restaurant, a new record, even for us. But all good things must come to an end, and this time we finished with layers of crème brulee, balanced by orange flavor. Amazing.

On your next visit to Eilat, I would recommend giving up on the usual tourist attractions, and taking a cab to Pedro. In the next month the new wine bar will be available too, which I'm sure you'll enjoy.