Monday July 8 2024: The Israeli restaurant that symbolized coexistence between Jews and Arabs has closed down.
Mixed Arab/Jewish Israeli couple operating Majda Restaurant in Ein Rafa for 14 years say customers disappeared after Oct 7. ‘We live in two worlds and to us everyone has gone mad’.
Michal Baranes and Yakub Barhum’s Majda restaurant, located in Ein Rafa west of Jerusalem, closed its doors after 14 years marking a sad ending that highlights the ongoing financial hardships of culinary businesses in Israel as the war continues.
This isn’t only sad because it highlights Israel’s difficult financial and security situation, but also because Majda was, beyond its culinary achievements, a symbol of coexistence that seems impossible in the current climate.
Meanwhile Globes News reported that UK coffee house and sandwich giant Pret a Manger cancelled plans to open in Israel.
Israeli retail chain Fox-Wizel Group has announced that international coffee and freshly prepared food franchise Pret a Manger has canceled the Israeli franchise agreement it signed due to the war.
Last year Pret a Manger signed an agreement awarding its exclusive franchise in Israel to a partnership of Fox (80%) and Yarzin Sella (20%). Fox has now announced, “On May 30, 2024, Pret A Manger announced its decision to cancel the license agreement, and this, according to it, due to the occurrence of a force majeure event as a result of the Iron Swords War and its effect on the company’s ability to carry out the preliminary actions required to open the activity according to the license agreement.”
Fox had been planning to open Israel’s first Pret a Manger outlet in Tel Aviv towards the end of 2024. It has been reported recently that there has been major pressure from pro-Palestinian organizations that have threatened to boycott the network, if it does open in Israel. The plan has been to set up about 40 branches in Israel.
Pret A Manger is familiar to Israeli’s who have visited London and elsewhere, where it operates many branches and specializes, among other things, in sandwiches and salads.
Another casualty of the Gaza war is French cuisine. Ynet News reported that Robuchon’s restaurant in Israel closes after one year. Arriving in Israel with high prices and Michelin star ambitions, Tel Aviv’s L’Epoque restaurant from the prestigious Robuchon group closes its gates.
Exactly one year after it opened with big promises and equally big statements, star chef Joël Robuchon’s Tel Aviv restaurant closed and the Robuchon Group picked up its Michelin stars and left Israel.
“Our restaurant is currently closed, we are renewing the menu and the concept,” is the answer the service representatives at the hotel are giving to customers trying to book a table at L’Epoque, the name of the Robuchon restaurant in Israel.
The arrival of the esteemed Robuchon brand in Israel sparked significant excitement in the local culinary scene, with hopes it would earn a Michelin star like its global counterparts. The restaurant, known for its high prices and fine ingredients like caviar and quality seafood, set high expectations.
The head chef of the group (and Robuchon’s successor) David Alves said in an interview with Ynet upon its opening, “We will bring the Michelin to Tel Aviv. It is true that in Israel Michelin is not yet relevant, but now there is a Michelin in Dubai as well, so maybe there is a way for it to come as well to Israel”.
Alves also said in the same interview, “This restaurant is an expensive restaurant because the quality of the raw materials is the most important thing to us. We choose the best shrimp and the best meat, this directly affects the price. If we want it to be a good restaurant, we have to invest in excellent raw materials, and this is first of all reflected in the price. I am sure that because this is a restaurant that aims for excellence, it will be full.”
Robuchon began his culinary journey at the bottom of the ladder. At the age of 18, he washed floors and scrubbed pots and pans in restaurants, and then began working in Paris and abroad. In the late 1970s, he started working in a hotel in Paris, and in 1981 he opened the Jamin restaurant, for which he received three Michelin stars within three years of opening.
Robuchon’s restaurant in Israel was located in the Elkonin Hotel, situated on a beautiful corner in Neve Tzedek, in a restored historical building that was the first hotel in Tel Aviv.
L’Epoque joins a long list of restaurants that have closed in Tel Aviv over the past few months, since the outbreak of the war, including Brut Restaurant, Topolopompo, Bar La Cita and Artel Formal, which also closed exactly one year after its opening.
Martin Blackham Israel First TV Program www.israelfirst.org
