About Asif - Culinary Institute of Israel

Omer Shahm started baking at home with his mother when he was 5-years-old and by the time he was 12, he was already in charge of the cooking in their home. As a teenager, he worked as a dishwasher in restaurants and at 21, he got his first break in a professional kitchen. From there, it was a long culinary journey, from his childhood hometown of Jerusalem to Michelin-starred restaurants in Berlin and back to Tel Aviv.

“A month ago, I went to Shmil’s Schnitzel in Jerusalem — a place I really love. In the middle of this crazy time that our country is going through, I sat there with two Haredi guys, an elderly man and Shmil (whose real name is Eliyahu), and we just talked about life, food, and what each of us cooks at home. A restaurant should be a place where people meet, in the end, that’s what it’s all about.”