Jacob Hayat, who owned it Sharabich restaurant in Kfar Ramadied yesterday at the age of 69, his family members announced in a Facebook post. A social worker for 33 years, Hiatt left his job for his great love – the kitchen, where he cooked farm to table long before it became a trendy phrase. The Sharabich restaurant operated in Kfar Rama for eight years and was greatly appreciated by customers and colleagues, until it closed at the end of 2021, following Hiat’s decision to rest and devote himself to family and rest.
The kingdom of wild flavors. Yaakov Hiat cooking in Sharabich (Photo: Erez Bar)
As mentioned, Hayat was a collector and a natural person no less than he was a linguist. He was in the forest near his home, knew every wild herb, plucked spice plants straight from the ground, collected vegetation – and all these would come straight to his plate, in a simple, smart and above all evening to the palate. He defined himself as a “forest man”, and this is certainly evident in the meals he put together, which were based on the purity of seasonal and local raw materials and were characterized by color, freshness and one-time freshness.
Collects, collects and installs delicacies. Jacob Hayat (Photo: Dror Einav, Walla)
“Yaakov Hayat reads the wild plants like an open book,” we wrote about him in 2017 when the restaurant entered the ranking of the 12 most favorite restaurants of Tel Aviv’s chefs, “he collects them at his restaurant, hidden in the parking lot of a building in Kfar Rama in the Galilee, and prepares wonderful delicacies from them : Cuba, patayer, marinated chicken, cauliflower in tahini, zucchini in yogurt, chickpeas and eggplant in tahini and pomegranates. Sharavich is the essence of wild flavors.” Among Hayat’s many fans in the culinary scene are Israel Aharoni, Erez Komarovski and food journalist Ronit Vared, who were among the first to discover the wonder and spread the word.
A real paradise. Jacob Hiat (Photo: Erez Bar)
Sharabich’s food was not only wild flavors but also simply a combination of home food with a Galilean aroma, which became the secret of knowledgeable foodies who came to eat a crispy bulgul kube filled with meat, chicken that was cooked all night in blush and onions, and also the vegetable omelettes in which the vegetables were picked that morning among the groves of the Galilee. For the vegetarians and vegetarians, Sharabich was a literal paradise, with koba tzachoni, olives and bulgur, and hummus was very tasty. The name of the restaurant, Sharavich, also testified to his rooted nature that is firmly rooted in his land, as the name is named after the plot of land from the village of Ikrit, from which his family was expelled in 1948 – where he will also be laid to rest today at noon.