If you haven't had time to eat at the Sycamore Garden yet, you probably have a lot to be sorry about. The restaurant that esteemed chef Dana Lee Berman opened in April of this year together with the We Like You Too group in Tel Aviv's Gan Yaakov at 4 Tarsat Street, has become one of the most talked about in Israel.
Today, Berman published an emotional post on her Instagram page in which she announced that she had made the decision to leave the place she built with her own hands by carrying her daughter Ellie in her belly. On December 31, Berman's last servis was held there, and at the beginning of the month the restaurant went out for a refreshment. When it's back in operation, it might come back with the same plates and glasses created by Berman's sister, but with a different menu, different food and a new staff.
Chef Dana Lee Berman cooks at the Sycamore Garden, photo: Maya Drin
"The restaurant actually continues, but not like the sycamore garden it was until now," Berman explains in a conversation we had with her today. "I'm leaving the partnership and he's coming back without me and my team, coming back completely different. Not as the sycamore garden we built."
How do you feel about that?
"I can't believe it a bit. Everyone was waiting, I was waiting, and when I say everyone - I don't mean people in the field, I mean my best friends, because since I was 10 years old I've been cooking for them, for the teachers I explained to them that I don't have the energy to study for matriculation because I will be a successful chef, for my family and my sisters. Everyone was waiting for me to open the best restaurant in the country, and that's also what I promised my husband when he told me: 'Why are you opening a restaurant in the seventh month?' I kind of can't believe I did this the whole pregnancy, the whole maternity leave and now it's closed. It's just over. It feels like some kind of dream, a dream that just passed."
Chef Dana Lee Berman, Photo: Maya Drin
Why is this happening?
"I decided to take another job that was offered to me, which would allow me to be the person I want to be. A job abroad with better conditions and I chose it to make it better for my family. I really wanted to take this offer and keep the garden running, but in the end it was to stay or leave because of disagreements between the partners. We didn't reach an agreement that would make everyone happy."
Since that last service, Berman already lives with her family in Romania and serves as a chef in a large hotel group in Europe that is starting to open chef restaurants and is based in Barcelona. "It allows me to continue doing what I love so much. Being a chef isn't just about the food – I love building a concept, a team, creating. I just feel like I'm going to have the privilege of deciding at any moment whether I'm with Ellie (her daughter) or at work."
View this post on Instagram
Shared post by Danna-lee Berman (@dannaleebee)
In her post, she explained that she was torn between wanting to be the best mom she could be and being the chef of the Sycamore Garden. "This place was born together with my daughter. Like my daughter, I cooked it inside me for months. I carried them both in my stomach for a long time and when they happened together, I was on a cloud. I felt like I was able to do everything I said was impossible," she wrote, adding: "We total perfectionists can't be 150 percent on two things. It doesn't work. What's more, every time I'm 200 percent into something, I feel like the other person has been hurt. I understood that it wasn't a matter of incompetence, I understood that it was a matter of choice."
Wrong? We'll fix it! If you find a mistake in the article, please share with us