Adi Ashkenazi, not yet 24 years old, has never studied cooking in an orderly fashion, but is already considered one of the most intriguing and promising names in the Israeli culinary world • Interview
Thursday evening, the 14th floor of Hajjaj Towers on Fourth Street in Tel Aviv is filled to capacity with enthusiastic diners, even before the first defeat or chaser.
POP & POPE is the restaurant where the most money has been invested in Israel at the moment, and you can see it every inch of it.
From the tools and the elegant design to alcohol and food that borders on perfection.
Chef Shahaf Shabtai is in charge of the menu, but he has many other occupations and restaurants around the world, so the management of Pop's kitchen in these busy days after the restaurant returns rests on the shoulders of Adi Ashkenazi, not yet 24 years old but staring at the kitchen service. The Tough Evening presents us with an assertive chef with the confidence and abilities of a chef behind him for several decades in the profession.
Ashkenazi grew up in Rishon Lezion with a father who recently retired from Dan, and a mother, Nava, who serves as a senior consultant to Prof. Roni Gamzo, the director of Ichilov Hospital. "She has not seen much of the house this year," says her son. And another 21-year-old little brother
As with many, his love for the kitchen began as a child.
"My mother cooked a lot, not necessarily from the ethnic kitchen we belong to. I was constantly coming in and 'interfering'. Asking a lot of questions, interested, asking for help. The combination of those so-called harassment with my exposure to so many types of childhood food - increased for me The passion for the profession. "
Continuing into the culinary and restaurant world remained a hobby only and was planned to remain so, until Ashkenazi, then 20, decided to make a "stop" on the way to a high-tech career emerging and recalculate a route.
"During my military service, I worked as a freelancer in an American start-up and would step away from enrolling in computer science studies," he says.
"I was wondering if this is the path I want my life to take, and the answer was no."
Ashkenazi began his career at Segev Express in Ramat Hachayal.
"In a short time I progressed to managing the cold strip, but after half a year I already asked to leave to advance. From there I got to Ran Shmueli's' Claro ', I learned a lot there under Shmueli and chef Omar Avishar. They made me see things a little differently. This is a restaurant.' "Pharm to Table ', and that gave me a lot of angles on restaurants in general. There were very large services there, like the ones I experience here these days."
Huge or Michelin restaurants?
"I was a part of Claro Gross for three years. During my time there I flew for an internship with Moshik Roth in Amsterdam at his Michelin-starred restaurant 'Moshik', which recently closed. I wanted to understand which direction I was going in the restaurant world, and that helped me. The restaurants with the big services, and on the other side there is the world of Michelin restaurants - and the difference is abysmal. The world of Michelin does include fewer diners at the same time, but no less complex. Each table gets attention as if the diners belong to the royal house. "One portion. In Michelin, by the way, the profits are less good. There are chefs for whom creation is more important than money."
The internship in the Netherlands was not your only experience in restaurants outside of Israel.
"True, the 'Pop' opened last June and closed in mid-September because of the Corona. Immediately after that, after quite a bit of bureaucracy, me and another Israeli chef left for Denmark to work at the 'Alchemist' restaurant of the famous chef Rasmus Monk.
"This is a restaurant that all of Denmark is talking about. A crazy experience of five and a half hours, where you move between different rooms and each scene changes according to the dishes you get. So people who do not really 'understand' the food also came. This is the most expensive restaurant in Copenhagen but also the best "In it, and probably also in all of Denmark. It's an experience that amounts to 2,000 shekels per person, but totally worth it. Before I left, I went through the experience myself as a diner, and it was perfect. As a kitchen worker you do not notice all these things."
Applause
The experience in restaurants in these countries is completely different.
Being a chef is equivalent to being a doctor.
The profession of chef in the country has risen and become prestigious in recent years, but it is still far from the respect and prestige it receives in other countries.
Many people work in it not because it interests them, but because they need the livelihood.
Those who have minimal ability will find work as a cook very quickly, even in familiar kitchens.
As someone who has seen the world, how is the attitude towards Israeli food abroad?
"I'll tell you a story, me and another Israeli who worked at the restaurant prepared an Israeli meal for the staff. We made pitas, shakshuka, falafel, Arabian salad, hummus and more. Everyone fell in love and was surprised that we produced so much food from so few raw materials. Move a little slower that day.
"At the end of the day we were applauded, Ashkara was applauded, from Rasmus to the last dishwasher. I never believed this would be the reaction.
Ashkenazi, as you have noticed, does not lack self-confidence.
This is especially evident when asked about his aspirations and goals for the future.
"I will not tell you that I aspire to reach three Michelin stars," he says modestly.
"It's a dream. Also to get on the list of the 50 best restaurants with a place of my own. To run my own restaurant is a matter of time."
"I do not want to sound arrogant, but I am very confident in myself. I invest a lot in myself and my education. Also in terms of the places I worked, but even before that I spent a lot of money on my own initiative to go as a diner without a few Michelin restaurants. I'm sure not many people did it. ".
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