I am clearly on a Middle Eastern binge and this includes a visit to FAYER – an interesting concept serving a mix of Israeli food and Argentinian grill. This upscale restaurant offers a very sleek dining space but how does the contemporary menu stack up against it?

FAYER, calle de Orfila, 7, 28010

FAYER is very clearly an upscale restaurant, starting with the rather stuffy welcome, continuing with a very dark contemporary décor and finishing with the price tag of it all. I actually am not a big fan of the interior – it was very dark and moody and felt a tad too oppressive for my liking. Sleek but soulless.

We were served a “complimentary” bagel (€5.60) with a yoghurt dip and preserved eggplant. While the dip and eggplant were delicious, I found the bagel only OK. All of the skin crumbled off while I tried to tear some bite size pieces away and that left me with a rather bland white bread. Not a fan.

Since this restaurant dubs itself an Israeli-Argentinian fusion, we asked for an Argentinian wine recommendation to go along our dinner. Our waiter suggested us La Mascota Cabernet Franc (€35) and I cannot say that I liked this wine either. It was a tad too tannic with hints of acidity to drink alone, although it did work well with the food.

Baba ghanoush (€14) came with pita and was excellent. Incredibly smoky and super creamy, it was topped with pomegranate seeds for an added texture and sweetness and it worked great. I really love it when a generally tasteless veggie like eggplant is transformed into something this delicious and this appealing. Yum yum.

When I saw that the menu highlights included a house pastrami (€48), I had to order it. For an added level of freshness and to balance all the meat out, we ordered a fattoush salad (€13) as well.

Pastrami was incredibly juicy and tender. It came accompanied with some pickled veggies and a mountain of mustard that worked really well with the meat. As I said, it was incredibly juicy and tender but I do not think it worked well as a meal. Maybe it was little bit too one sided(?), a little bit too plain(?) once you finish the accompanying veggies and are only left with the pungent mustard… I do not know.

This is why I am glad that we ordered that fattoush salad because it was EXCELLENT. Fresh and punchy, and with the added crunch of some very thin deep fried dough pieces it was an utter delight to eat. I could order it again and again.

The verdict? Oh, it is all definitely rather upscale and good. Did I feel a lot of the Argentinian influence in our food? Not really and that Argentinian wine did nothing to bridge the gap between the two places. The food was really good, I have to admit it, but at that particular price point? Eh. I will take Falafeleria and La Hummuseria over this any time.