POP IN HERE IF YOU ARE A LOVER OF HUMMUS:
Chefs Omer Shadmi and Daniel Zur are working together to create their Middle Eastern menus
CHAVRUTA IS not a word you often hear from an Israeli chef. Nor is it commonly associated with food. But chef, Omer Shadmi, chooses it to describe the way he and best friend, Daniel Zur, cook together. It’s a word I’ve never heard, and, talking to them on a video call from Tel Aviv where they both live, I’m trying to surreptitiously google it when Shadmi explains: “It’s when two people study Torah together. Each brings his vision and the other listens and gives his view. That’s how Daniel and I work together in our cooking.”
His unusual choice of word is reflective of his background. His parents are academics — his father, a judge, and his mother, an archaeologist with a doctorate in Jewish art — his grandparents, German and Lithuanian refugees. They kept a kosher (but not particularly epicurean) home. The menu was typically Ashkenazi — he recalls celebrating many Jewish holidays with gefilte fish. Fine dining was not a priority — “If we travelled, it was all about museums and not the food.”
Nonetheless, Shadmi developed a passion for food from a young age, deciding he wanted to be a chef from 16 years old. “I’m the black sheep of the family” he jokes “But my parents said I should do what makes me happy!”
Daniel Zur & Omer Shadmi
He and Zur (both 30 years old) met at the age of eight, growing up in the same Jezreel Valley village in Israel’s north. Zur’s family are also descended from German refugees — his grandparents survived Auschwitz. He says they were more artistic.
“My father is a jewellery maker and we kept small farm animals. For us it was all about food — at home and out. We’d eat in the Arab and Bedouin villages that surrounded the area we lived in. I was always amazed by, and loved that sort of food” says Zur.
Both are self-taught. Shadmi trawling through books and experimenting with recipes from an early age. “I’d visit pastry places to ask for work experience.” He found employment in a restaurant in Israel’s north, and then worked at night in a pizza
Shadmi and Zur’s pop up is at Carousel until February 29. More info at: www.carousel-london.com
IT must be the season for it — Middle Eastern events are popping up all over. On March 12 and 13, Allpress Espresso Roastery and Café in Dalston will be hosting ANAN. Behind it is former head chef (and co-founder) of The Barbary, Eyal Jagermann, offering a vegetarian mezze menu based around hummus.
Mouthwatering dishes include Medjool confit beetroot with dukkah; golden cauliflower served Jaffa style; burnt sweet potato brûlée and slow roasted kohlrabi with cured lemon chimichurri. Desserts include a coconut cream-based malabi, served with persimmon and rose water syrup.
In the kitchen with Eyal is chef Tomer Hauptman (ex-Palomar) while Zoe Tigner-Haus (previously at the River Café) will be running front of house.
Tickets are £33 and include an Arak cocktail combining Limonana, rose petals and coriander seeds.
Book at: www. exploretock.com/anan