‘It’s all about food and all about giving,’ says chef Bino Gabso, a.k.a. Dr. Shakshuka.
By MIRIAM KRESH‘It’s all about food and all about giving,’ says chef Bino Gabso, a.k.a. Dr. Shakshuka(photo credit: MIRIAM KRESH)
If you’re hungry for genuine, savory North African food, you can’t do better than visit Dr. Shakshuka near Jaffa’s flea market. Follow the sign indicating Beit Eshel Street, behind the clock tower and to the left.Between a second-hand furniture store and a clothes rack displaying cheap blouses, you’ll see an ironwork door partly covered with an old red blanket. There might be a man wearing a fez standing in front, inducing passersby to come in.Over the door, in red letters to match the blanket, hangs a sign that proudly announces “Dr. Shakshuka.” It looks like anything but a celebrated restaurant, but in fact, like Aladdin’s cave, the shabby old building contains treasures – delicious treasures. It’s where authentic Jewish-Libyan food is served all day and into the night. You can be sure it’s the real thing, because the menu has been supervised, cooked and served by three generations of the same family.The first thing you see on entering the dimly lit room is the collection of antique copper pots that hang from the ceiling.They’re cooking utensils of times gone by, now honored in their retirement.The stone walls display photographs and framed copies of newspaper articles and letters from celebrities lauding the restaurant. Then look down at the original, colorful floor tiles of the 200-yearold building. Finally, look around. Long trestle tables invite you to sit down with everyone else and choose your pleasure.The atmosphere is exotic and homey in an old-fashioned way, like a casual eatery off a North African street in the 1950s. The rotund and jovial chef and owner, Bino Gabso, is probably sitting at his own small table, keeping an eye on things. At 62, Gabso has lived his entire life with the restaurant. His five children and some of his 12 grandchildren work there in one capacity or another.Gabso’s well-trained cooks turn out scores of traditional Jewish-Libyan dishes every day. The most famous is shakshuka, a dish based on eggs and tomatoes. Dr.Shakshuka offers 10 different versions of it. Gabso’s original recipe glorifies it into a sauté of fresh eggs poached in a robust tomato sauce that’s fiery with hot peppers, merguez sausages and spices.“This is how my father made shakshuka,” says Gabso. “My recipes were passed down from my grandparents and parents, and I’ve passed them on to my kids.”Gabso’s parents left Libya in the early 1950s, fleeing the anti-Semitic upheavals that rampaged in North Africa after Israel’s independence. They opened the restaurant in the Jaffa building where it stands now.“I was born in Jaffa and will always remain in Jaffa,” says Gabso with a certain emotion. “I grew up right here, in the restaurant. I quit school at age 10 and joined my father in the kitchen. I love food and love feeding people. I love creating new ways to present food too. Sometimes I can’t sleep at night for thinking of new dishes or ways to present food. At home, the only room that interests me is the kitchen.”“Take my shakshuka in a skillet,” he continues. “There’s always been shakshuka, but I invented serving it in the skillet. It’s a piece out of my childhood.I’d come in from school or the street starving, and my father would make me shakshuka. I’d eat it right out of the skillet. When I took the restaurant over from my father, I remembered that, and started to serve shakshuka that way. Now everybody does it.”But it’s not all eggs at Dr. Shakshuka.There’s a choice of heritage Libyan and Moroccan dishes: couscous, mafroum (meat-stuffed potatoes), kebabs, peas and kishke in tomato sauce, chreime fish, varied fresh salads and more. A basket of fresh white halla slices is always set on the table, as a foil for some of the peppery flavors and for mopping up sauce.Then there’s the famous shwarma. In the 1960s, Gabso’s father hired a Turkish cook who taught the young boy how to roast shwarma meat over coals.“That Turkish cook taught me to how to roast shwarma his way, and that’s all I cooked here, until I was drafted into the army. I still make shwarma the way he taught me. It’s lamb slices alternating with slabs of ground lamb, seasoned with a secret mix of spices.”Gabso’s shwarma won first place in the sandwich category at last year’s Royal Chef competition in London. He also walked away with the first prize, earned with his shakshuka, naturally. The competition judge was chef Albert Roux, of the famous Chez Roux restaurant in London. Shakshuka is served in Chez Roux every day – a huge celebrity leap for a humble, North African, workingman’s dish.Gabso reveals the convivial spirit of the true food lover.“I love to be around food,” he says in his rumbly voice, “and I like to be around people who love food too.”A fine, natural generosity shines from his face as he expands on the topic.“It’s about giving. I love to give. I have a plan for making a food truck and making stops around the country, distributing food to needy people; say, to disabled army veterans. My greatest satisfaction in life is watching people eating and enjoying my food.”Dr. Shakshuka is getting famous internationally, but Gabso’s London experience doesn’t seem to have given him an appetite for celebrity and travel.“I’ve been invited to visit the US and demonstrate cooking... but I can’t,” he confesses.“First of all, I love Jaffa. I don’t like to be away for any length of time. We’ll stay here,” he says, using the collective to indicate his family and his restaurant, which seem to be one thing for him.“We’ll stay in Israel, in Jaffa. Anyone who wants to enjoy our food, come to us – we’ll give him a warm welcome.”Dr. Shakshuka3 Beit Eshel Street, Jaffa/Tel AvivTelephone: 057-944-4193 or (03) 682- 2842Open Sunday to Thursday, 8 a.m. to midnight and Friday 8 a.m. until start of Shabbat.Email: shakshuka1@012.net.il
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