The Thai place at Carmel Market presents: food "on steroids"
At "Gveret Kutiao", Mati Nakash insists on the nuances of Thai cuisine and offers authentic and bold food: "I like to also provide a version on steroids."
About Gveret Kutiao
Chef: Mati Nakash
Cuisine type: Thai
Kosher: No
Restaurant design: Mati Nakash
Number of dishes on the menu: 14 (+ 8 specials + 4 desserts)
Price range: 44-89 NIS per dish
Address: Yom Tov 2, Carmel Market, Tel Aviv
Phone: 053-8848618
Opening hours: Sunday-Thursday 11:00-23:00; Friday: 09:00-17:00
Reservations required: No
For seven years, one "lady" has been starring at the Carmel Market, in a small corner down the street of butcher shops. The lady is "Gveret Kutiao" ("Ms. Kutiao"), the Thai eatery of Mati Nakash, specializing in kutiao - a popular noodle dish that is a whole meal in a bowl: deep broth, rice noodles, protein, vegetables, and a variety of toppings.
The lady started in 2019 as a focused pop-up that turned into a restaurant. Over the years, the menu expanded and dishes from Thai cuisine were added, with an emphasis on the Isan cuisine of northeastern Thailand - spicy, fermented, intense in flavor, and unapologetic.
Recently, Nakash opened "Pok Pok" (mortar and pestle) nearby: a Thai grocery store with kitchenware, fresh ingredients, and food products. The grocery store caters to the growing Thai community in Israel, but no less so to Israelis, who when it comes to Thai food, already speak fluent Thai.
Why we chose it
If you (like me) are among the tens of thousands of Israelis who visited Thailand this summer and have since missed the food, the smells, and the vibe of the market stalls - run to the lady. Nakash deepens the Israeli public's acquaintance with Thai cuisine and insists on tradition, nuances, and spicy, fermented, and funky flavors. "Isan cuisine is tough. It has no sugar and peanuts to soften the food. The flavors are umami and strong, so I like to give two options: one normative and one on steroids," emphasizes Nakash.
Som tum, green papaya salad, is an excellent example. Alongside an accessible version, Nakash serves a spicy, bold, and intense-flavored som tum, with dried chili and fermented fish sauce. On the menu, it is marked with four peppers and accompanied by a warning: "Recommended for those who know." And they know, more and more. Once, says Nakash, one had to convince Israelis to taste such things. Today they return from Thailand, recognize dishes, and ask for the tough, authentic versions. Thus, Gveret Kutiao tells something about us: the Israeli audience has matured, and the lady has matured with it. And she is maturing beautifully.
About the chef
Mati Nakash, 38, grew up in Ramat Gan and lives in Tel Aviv with his partner and their two children. He started cooking at age 12 and at 14 was already managing the family shawarma place on Jabotinsky Street. "I assembled the skewer, prepared salads. It was a playground for me. Even then I knew I wanted to be a chef." Later he worked for several years at "Tal Bagels" in Glilot.
His father had agricultural farms in the Gaza envelope, where he was first exposed to Thai workers and their food culture, but he did not touch the food. "The family kept kosher, the food was foreign to me and, to be honest, it repelled me." Even after the army, when he went on a trip to Thailand, he did not connect to this food. "I was very arrogant. I looked at Thai cuisine as unesthetic and unclean. It took me almost two months to open up to it, and when I opened up, I opened up." It happened when he ate kutiao. "I was angry at myself - how much I missed. Suddenly I discovered a world of flavors different from everything I knew. From that moment everything changed."
Nakash returned to Israel and worked as a sous-chef for Avi Biton, but his head remained in Thailand. After a year he returned there and started researching kutiao: he traveled between the south and the north, learned the types of noodles and broths, and tried to understand the DNA of the dish. After years of experiments, he felt ready. "My partner said: 'Buy a pot and some plates and fulfill your dream'." In 2019, a kutiao pop-up opened with only two dishes: beef and chicken. The rumor about the wonderful soup spread and the pop-up turned into Gveret.
Flagship dish
Over the years there have been several flagship dishes of Kutiao, including a version with duck. When it became expensive, "Kutiao Nae Ton" took its place, based on a long-cooked beef broth. Nakash does not start cooking the broth every morning anew, but adds water and beef to the existing one, and thus the broth deepens. According to him, the Gveret broth "has been rolling for three years; in Thailand, I met 50-year-old broths."
The roots of kutiao lie in Chinese migration to Thailand. At Gveret, you can get it in several variations: with soup in a bowl, on the side, or without soup at all. On the table, various sauces wait (fermented chili, chili jam, pepper in Thai vinegar, and smoked chili), and each diner engineers the dish for themselves, balancing between sweet, sour, salty, and spicy. A pleasure.
Dessert and drinks
Thai sweetness is also a culture in itself. Dok Anchan is a purplish custard made from coconut milk, butterfly pea flowers, and cane sugar. On top, caramelized green papaya, roasted peanuts, kaffir lime, and Thai pea leaves. Beautiful and delicious.
Alcohol menu is small (only 3 drinks) and distinctly Thai: the popular Chang beer, a light and easy lager, and two spirits - "Thai whiskey" and "Thai rum" by the portion or as a chaser.
What we ate:
Som tum papaya - 44
Mango salad - 62
Gai Yang (pot-roasted chicken) - 98
Kutiao Nae Ton - 76
Mango sticky rice - 52
Dok Anchan - 36
Total for 2 diners (excluding tip and drinks): 368 NIS
