Roots Club was an upscale

restaurant A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...

and catering hall in Gaza. In 2010, restaurant reviewers expected the restaurant to bring "a new era of hospitality and dining experience" to Gazans. The club was located on Cairo Street in the Gaza district of

Rimal Rimal or Remal ( ar, حي الرمال, , sands) is an upscale neighborhood in Gaza City located from the city center. Situated along the coastline, it has been considered the most prosperous neighborhood of Gaza.Jacobs, 1998, p.455. The main st ...

. It features three different dining venues, the informal, outdoor ''Green Terrace Café''; the ''Ambassador'' catering hall; and the air-conditioned ''Roots Restaurant''. One restaurant reviewer described the atmosphere as "vaguely reminiscent of the Anglo-Indian country-clubs of the colonial era." A reviewer called the menu, which features twelve different meat dishes, chicken prepared thirteen different ways, and eight pasta preparations in addition to an array of salads, appetizers, desserts, and nine kinds of soup served "only in winter," truly staggering.

Lonely Planet Lonely Planet is a travel guide book publisher. Founded in Australia in 1973, the company has printed over 150 million books. History Early years Lonely Planet was founded by married couple Maureen and Tony Wheeler. In 1972, they embarked ...

calls the Roots Club," "the best" restaurant in Gaza.''Lonely Planet Israel and the Palestinian Territories,'' Michael Kohn, Lonely Planet, 2007, p. 362. The restaurant was brought to world attention by British journalist

Tom Gross Tom Gross is a British-born journalist, international affairs commentator, and human rights campaigner specializing in the Middle East. Gross was formerly a foreign correspondent for the London ''Sunday Telegraph'' and ''New York Daily News''. He ...

and by the Israeli Government Press Office. Tom Gross posted a photo essay about the new As-Sadaka Gaza Olympic Swimming Pool and the Roots Club restaurant on his web page, alleging that "the manipulative agenda of the BBC and other foreign media agencies" creates a false picture of conditions in Gaza and is "deliberately misleading global audiences and systematically creating the false impression that people are somehow starving in Gaza, and that it is all Israel’s fault." The Government Press Office was inspired by Gross's dispatch to send an email to journalists reading: "In anticipation of foreign correspondents traveling to Gaza to cover reports of alleged humanitarian difficulties in the Hamas-run territory, and as part of efforts to facilitate the work of journalists in the region, the Government Press Office is pleased to bring to your attention the attached menu and information for the Roots Club and Restaurant in Gaza... We have been told the beef stroganoff and cream of spinach soup are highly recommended."

External links

Roots Club webpage

Roots Club video

References

{{Gaza City Restaurants in Gaza City

See also

External links

References