Shmulik Cohen

| Photos courtesy Shmulik Cohen’s restaurant
Shmulik
Cohen’
Address: 146 Herzl, Tel Aviv
Tel: (03) 681-0222
www.shmulik-cohen.co.il
Jewish
Kitchen
S
mall town, few people –
That’s what good ol’
Tel Aviv used to be like,
the first Hebrew city. In
those innocent days, immigrants
from a number of different Diaspora
communities lived harmoniously
together in the city, each contributing
their cultural and culinary part. Before
the ravages of modern technologies,
little Tel Aviv’s most bustling street was
Medurat Hashevet, where every longlived
institution and business there
became legendary.
There is at least one place like this, a
true Tel Aviv legend that is still operating
successfully to this day: For the past 81
years, Shmulik Cohen’s restaurant has
been well-known for being a Mehadrin
kosher family restaurant with a varied
menu of Eastern European Jewish
cuisine, located at 146 Herzl Street in
Tel Aviv.
If you’ve been having nostalgic
cravings for foods that will transport
you back to grandma’s kitchen in good
ol’ Tel Aviv that will leave you more than
satisfied, you’ll be glad to pore over the
menu at Shmulik Cohen’s Restaurant!
The flavors emanating from the pots
in the kitchen and served in generous
portions to the diners are the
culmination of one family’s culinary
secrets passed down from one
generation to the next. This is already
the third generation. In order to fully
understand this Jewish-Tel Aviv-Family
story we’ll start in the present and work
our way back in time: The grandson
Tomer fills the role of manager these
days, while his mother Tzippi Rosen
is still in charge of the kitchen. Tzippi
grew up between the pots and pans
and later managed the restaurant for
many years. Her father was Shmulik
Cohen himself, who, along with his wife
Carmella performed culinary wonders
in the restaurant that bears his name
since the 1930’s! In the beginning,
Shmulik and his wife worked alongside
his mother, Rivka.
Complicated? Not really – because
wherever Jewish food is prepared, an
ember from earlier generations still
burns. All of the best things about the
restaurant throughout the years remain
to this day – the flavors and aromas, the
family atmosphere that doesn’t come
at the expense of professional service,
the regular diners who know each other
by name, the generous portions, the
Jewish atmosphere and the joy for life.
Tzippy and Tomer provide their diners
with fresh, kosher food prepared daily
using their many decades of experience
expressed through their excellent taste
and praiseworthy dishes.
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