It's impossible to ignore the view from the huge windows surrounding Gouje & Danielle. The vines and fields below turn every visit into a small escape from reality. Forget about politics, forget about the security and economic situation, hop into your car and type 'Bnei Zion' into your GPS, just a few short minutes away from Ra'anana Junction North. A sigh of relief is guaranteed.
The restaurant's is known far and wide for its sumptuous breakfast buffet, one of the Sharon region's secret gems. People know to make reservations in advance for a delightful Friday morning breakfast on the terrace.
But we're here to tell you about dinner at Gouje & Danielle. As soon as the sun sets, the place is lit up exquisitely and is surrounded by expansive rural darkness that can only be found far from city lights. Inside, the ambiance is warm and welcoming; people are happy and friendly – they're all here to have a good time.
Video by: Assaf Revivo
Gouje & Danielle was founded by Neta-Lee Yehudai and Ido Feiner in 2011 after the kiosk that served the nearby moshav swimming pool was demolished. The view that was unearthed once the rubble was cleared left no room for doubt in Neta-Lee and Ido's minds; they decided to open a rural bistro on the premises.
They asked Snir Ang-Sela, an experienced, highly esteemed chef who'd worked in some of New York's most successful restaurants, to assemble a menu and a list of produce that could be grown in the adjacent garden. While working together on the menu and on the gardening, a strong bond was formed between the three. A few short months later, Neta-Lee and Ido offered Snir the position of executive chef.
Ever since, Ang-Sela has been the kitchen's loving chef. Ido lovingly cares for the garden, delivering fresh produce from the garden straight to the plate. Neta-Lee lovingly runs the floor and is head hostess. And it's for good reason that we use the word 'love' here. The place clearly conveys love, and it can be felt throughout the restaurant, among the wait staff as well.
The menu at Gouje & Danielle is divided into two sections: classic and seasonal. The seasonal menu is more interesting in our opinion, and is comprised of only seasonally available ingredients, primarily from the abundance of produce available from their garden. The idea of growing their own produce stemmed from the owners' and Snir's desire to provide diners with higher quality food. According to Snir, produce from their own garden "is of a higher quality than any produce we could order from suppliers, no matter how good delivered produce may be."
"Growing our own produce is a conversation starter with our diners, who like to ask us what's seasonal, what's growing in our garden at the moment, and what can be prepared accordingly," explains Snir. He stresses that his personal approach to food is that it's always best to eat seasonally. "Dishes that were once best-sellers have been removed from the menu simply because they were no longer in season, such as the tomato salad. Tomatoes are available year-round, but the dish only appears on our summer menu."
In contradiction with the approach commonly followed by restaurateurs who import ingredients from the other side of the world, Snir believes in available, local, fresh ingredients. All of their pastas are made on the premises, they bake their own breads and desserts, meat is grown locally, and the fish is caught as locally as possible. Slow-food at its best.
The green winter salad with thin strips of local pecorino cheese is a perfect example of the fact that nobody would expect leaves to taste this good. Low expectations of such simple ingredients result in a pleasant surprise once diners realize their quality, and this juxtaposition creates a fascinating culinary experience.
Giving the ingredients center stage impacts the prominence of fruit and vegetables on the menu. Snir values them highly and treats them as more than background to the main dish. The result is evident.
"The sign on the door reads 'Rural Bistro' and I really like this definition. I define the kitchen at Gouje & Danielle as "high-end casual dining," explains Snir. "The beauty in the definition as such is in the freedom it allows you to create and to draw inspiration from different places. We're impacted primarily from Western Europe, but I've definitely been influenced by the time I spent in New York. It seeps into everything I do, both intentionally and unintentionally."
When we asked Snir for his favorite reaction from his diners, he gave us a perfectly simple answer that we feel sums it all up: "I strive to succeed in making diners stop their conversation for a brief moment when they take that first bite, because it's so much better than they'd anticipated. At that point, I'm happy for them to continue their evening."
Photos by: Tali Dovrat
Gouje & Danielle, Anshei BeReshit Street (by the water tower), Bnei Zion
