Israeli chef Moshik Roth, 41, who grew up in Yavne, south of Tel Aviv. and moved to Holland at the age of 23 is now considered one of the Netherlands’ top chefs.
Israeli chef Moshik Roth’s new restaurant in Amsterdam was awarded two Michelin stars for 2013, the Michelin Guide announced on Monday. Roth opened the eccentrically named Samhoud Places, located in the center of the Dutch city, in August.
The restaurant, which features a glass-fronted kitchen and a ground-floor cocktail lounge, cost nearly 2 million euros to get up and running. Roth earned his first Michelin star – and the first for any Israeli chef – for ‘t Brouwerskolkje, in Overveen, the Netherlands, in 2005, three years after it opened. A second star was added in 2009, a ranking ‘t Brouwerskolkje maintained until April of this year, when Roth closed it in order to focus on his new venture.
&samhoud places is slated to be the flagship of a chain of upscale restaurants that Roth and his partner, the Dutch entrepreneur Salem Samhoud, plan to open in New York, Kuala Lumpur, Rio de Janeiro, Moscow and Shanghai.
Roth, 41, grew up in Yavne, south of Tel Aviv. He moved to Holland at the age of 23. He began as the manager of a pizza parlor, and gradually moved into working in the kitchens of fine dining restaurants. Today Roth is considered one of the Netherlands’ top chefs. His new restaurant combines meticulous traditional cuisine and sophisticated, innovative molecular techniques. “It doesn’t feel like I have something new, there’s a feeling of continuity,” he says.
“Michelin visited us and saw that what we are doing here in Amsterdam is at a level no less than my previous place. I was nervous because we’d changed location, with a new name, a few months before the guide was published, and now the pressure is off. Of course it’s not the same restaurant, but it is the same kitchen. The signature is mine. Of course we’d like to reach three stars, and now we know we’re on the right track.”
When will you open a branch in Israel?
“First we’ll put Amsterdam on the map and then we’ll see. If there’ll be a good sponsor maybe we’ll think about a Tel Aviv branch. In Israel I wouldn’t take such a risk alone.”
Source: Haaretz.com
