Forget all the talk about antisemitism and hatred of Israel, because these Israeli chefs speak through their plates – and it’s hard to argue with good food. Here are 14 Israeli chefs who are the most successful abroad. Some you already know (hint: tomato), and some you’ve probably never heard of, but they’re all representing blue-and-white with pride
While we’re still arguing here at home over whether the most Israeli food is hummus or falafel, abroad the perception of Israeli cuisine is more complex. Even as Israel-haters try to undermine the nature of the local kitchen and dismiss it as mere copying, in practice the Israeli chefs we send out into the world define it as perfect – a bit of everything with a sprinkle of Mediterranean spice. The range of food in Israeli chefs’ restaurants abroad runs along the same diaspora-style spectrum as our local cuisine, sharpened by the chefs’ talent to suit foreign palates exactly. And they eat it up – oh, how they eat it up. So with all due respect to our delicious representatives at sea, here is a list of 14 Israeli chefs enjoying the most success overseas.
>> שגרירים של הצלחת: 14 השפים הישראלים שהכי מצליחים בחו"ל
Eyal Shani
The restaurant conglomerate built by Chef Eyal Shani and director Shahar Segal, his partner in the “The Better Guys” group, is taking over the world – no less. You can snack on Miznon pitas in world capitals from Paris to Singapore and all the way to Melbourne, and of course across Europe, which has fallen head over heels for the Master Chef judge. In New York you’ll find the thriving Port Sa’id Lower Manhattan, Shmone in the East Village, which made it into the extended list of the New York Michelin Guide, North, which combines elements of North Abraxas and Miznon; and HaSalon, whose furious review by a critic who paid 24 dollars for a tomato made waves all the way back to Tel Aviv – but also earned it serious acclaim. What else is on the roster? HaSalon Miami, North Singapore and Dubai, Seven North in Vienna with branches coming soon in Prague and London, Bella in the glitzy resort town of Cannes, and Lilienblum in London, which is getting rave reviews – with another fine-dining restaurant on the way in the luxury Williamsburg Wharf complex in Brooklyn. To list all the group’s ventures you’d really need a dedicated Wikipedia entry, so if we forgot something, apologies in advance.
Assaf Granit
As much of a superstar as he is in Israel, Assaf Granit’s truly major achievement is overseas: winning a Michelin star for his Paris restaurant Shabour for the fifth year in a row. His other restaurants have yet to receive the honor, but Granit has more than enough platforms racing full speed toward excellence: the high-end Coal Office, Palomar and The Barbary in London; Kapara, Shana and Tekés in Paris; Berta in Berlin; Baba in ultra-upscale Cap d’Antibes; and Sella on the Caribbean island of St. Barths, where multimillionaires escape when reality gets too exhausting. Granit is also the chef for El Al Airlines, and from what we’ve heard, the food he creates for business class is quite an experience. We recommend it.
Gal Ben-Moshe
For five years in a row, Berlin’s Prism has held a Michelin star, an achievement entirely credited to Chef Gal Ben-Moshe and his wife and partner, sommelier Jacqueline (Jacky) Lorenz. Since being appointed chef of Pastel in Tel Aviv, Ben-Moshe has been juggling his time between Tel Aviv and Berlin, and recently he even opened Grace inside Pastel – an intimate chef’s restaurant where he lets himself go wild with thrilling, experimental dishes in a full-on Michelin spirit.
Gilad Peled
Aside from Moshik Roth, there is only one Israeli who holds two Michelin stars. Our very long-time readers may remember Chef Gilad Peled from the short-lived luxury restaurant Pushkin on Montefiore Street in Tel Aviv, but since then he’s launched an international career, served as head chef at Gordon Ramsay’s fine-dining restaurants in London, and even earned two Michelin stars for him with the restaurant Le Pressoir d'Argent. About a year later, Peled left for Switzerland and opened Colonnade in the Mandarin Oriental hotel in the city of Lucerne. Four months after the restaurant opened, Peled received his first Michelin star, and this past October came the second. Finally, something good happening in that month.
Matan Zaken
Until last March, few Israelis had heard the name Matan Zaken, who at just 31 managed to win a Michelin star for his restaurant NHome in Paris. Zaken was born in Jerusalem and lived there until age 12, when he moved with his family to France. At 18 he returned to Israel, served as a Golani combat soldier, and after his discharge went back to Paris to fulfill his dream and become a chef. In his restaurant he combines haute gastronomy with Mediterranean cuisines, especially Israeli cooking, borrows elements from Japanese cuisine, and wraps it all up in French elegance reinforced with Israeli joie de vivre.
Uri Scheft
When the owner of beloved Lehamim Bakery opened a New York stand selling babka and challah, the whole city lined up and got hooked on the carbs. These days Scheft focuses his work on Bakey bakery in Boston and other cities in Massachusetts. As long as he keeps working in Israel, the Americans will just have to make do with what they have.
Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi
In the current climate it’s hard to imagine an Israeli-Palestinian partnership, but chefs Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi broke through the boundaries of Israeli cuisine and conquered London back in the early 2000s. Today they own no fewer than seven establishments in London, including the chef’s restaurant Nopi and the vegetarian restaurant Rovi, plus a restaurant in Geneva, Switzerland. The Ottolenghi brand, with its branches and catering arm, is still hugely successful, and the cookbooks the two have written are considered bibles of Mediterranean cooking.
Michael Solomonov
If the name doesn’t ring a bell, there’s no need to feel bad – but you really should know it. Michael Solomonov is the most successful Israeli chef in the United States and a winner of the prestigious James Beard Award. He was born in Israel, grew up in Pittsburgh, came back to Israel at 18 and started working in a bakery, then returned to the US to study cooking professionally. In 2008 he opened Zahav, an Israeli restaurant in Philadelphia that earned him the coveted James Beard Award. These days, to taste Solomonov’s food you’ll need to get to Brooklyn, to the restaurants K’Far and Laser Wolf, and to the cocktail and raw food bar Jaffa.
Shahaf Shabtai
Long before his televised beef with Nisan Shor on “Come Dine with Me,” Chef Shahaf Shabtai was rubbing shoulders with global celebritydom. He opened restaurants in Prague, Belgrade, Rhodes and Cambodia, worked in Moscow, Casablanca and New York, and served as chef for El Al. Today he hops between his restaurants in Shanghai and London with a small suitcase and a toothbrush, and comes back regularly to his home base, Pope & Pop in Tel Aviv.
Yoav Schverd
If you’re old enough to remember him from “Take Me Sharon,” it’s a sign your gray cells are still working just fine. Since that 2003 dating reality show, Schverd has moved to Los Angeles, started a family and opened three restaurants, in all of which he’s a partner and in one of which he’s the active chef. The Kardashians and Avril Lavigne have already been spotted nibbling his dishes at private dinners – a detail that seriously boosts the stock of this handsome chef.
Einat Admony
Ask New Yorkers about Israeli chefs and they immediately name Einat Admony. The Israeli chef has been cooking in the Big Apple for more than 20 years and currently owns Balaboosta. Under the definition “modern Israeli restaurant drawing inspiration from Persian and Yemeni kitchens,” the menu offers hummus and zhug, shrimp kadaif, falafel-crusted salmon and cauliflower with peanut tahini and Bamba. Shuk, the cookbook Admony wrote together with publisher Janna Gur, was described by TV and culinary personality Gail Simmons as “direct, in-depth and exploding with color and flavor.”
Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich
Chefs Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich met while working for the Italian chain Giraffe in Israel, then moved to London to work in Yotam Ottolenghi’s restaurants. A lot of water has flowed down the Thames since then, and the couple’s career has taken off. Today they own three Honey & Co. locations – the fine-dining restaurant where it all began, the Honey & Spice deli and the Honey & Smoke grill house – as well as four cookbooks and baking books spanning the Middle East and the Levant.
Meir Adoni
As of 2025, all that remains of Chef Meir Adoni’s former restaurant empire are Layla in Berlin, Samna in Spain, and some not-exactly-brilliant or profound opinions from the far-right end of the political spectrum. So passes worldly glory. Still, we remember Adoni fondly for the graces of his youth – and for the perfect “brain croissant” at Mizlala.
Alon Shaya
At age four, when he emigrated with his family from Bat Yam to the United States, Alon Shaya could hardly have imagined that a few decades later he would win a James Beard Award for his restaurant Shaya as the best new restaurant in America. Today he is no longer part of the restaurant that bears his name, but Shaya is still very much alive and kicking, with Miss River and Saba in New Orleans, Safta in Denver, and Silan in the Bahamas. You can probably imagine the style yourself – from baba ghanoush and muhammara to chicken in harissa.