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Omer Miller’s new restaurant, Shulchan, is quickly becoming Tel Aviv’s new place to go to.

By NORA BERLIN
Some sort of food 370 (photo credit: Dan Peretz)
Some sort of food 370
(photo credit: Dan Peretz)
Chef Omer Miller has had a wonderful run. His restaurant, The Dining Room (Heder Ochel) near the Opera House in Tel Aviv is an ongoing success, he has a TV show with cooking celebrity Michal Ansky, his Israeli cookbook is a bestseller, and it looked as if he could rest for a while – but Miller wanted a new adventure. He wanted to feed his clients in his kitchen or, as his longtime business partner Steven Lobel says, “Omer wanted people to come to his kitchen, so we built a restaurant around the kitchen”. And the new restaurant Shulchan (Table) does indeed feel informal, bright, modern, cheerful and welcoming.
We went there about a month after the opening, but by the look of things the place is already ticking like clockwork. The service is friendly and very professional, the food is divine, and the atmosphere is bubbly.
There are two seating areas. One is inside near the open kitchen, and the other is on an enclosed porch that overlooks lively Rothschild Boulevard. The large glass windows keep diners feeling like a part of the boulevard happenings, which is a lot of fun.
But the designed interiors and friendly service are only the hors d’oeuvres. It is the food that is the main attraction. And as we are familiar with the chef’s creations at his other restaurant, we had great expectations. And we were not disappointed.
The menu is not great. Miller’s forte is using fresh local produce and cooking in an Israeli style – or doing his own interpretations of traditional dishes, as well as just being inspired by the ingredients. Accordingly, the menu changes with the season and with the availability of ingredients.
I love tasting starters, so we ordered filo pastry cigars stuffed with sea fish, pistachio and mint, with yogurt sauce on the side. It was perfect, original and a great way to start a dinner (NIS 32). My companion wanted the lamb tartare, served with root vegetables, basil and shallots (NIS 42), which was good as well. The restaurant’s special starter, called egg schnitzel, is really a poached egg coated with bread crumbs and fried, served on a salad with Thai sauce. It is an amazing dish. The egg yolk is soft, and once the knife cuts through the golden richness, it mixes in with the salad and is simply scrumptious. No wonder it has already become one of the most popular dishes (NIS 28).
For mains, we both wanted fish. I took the corvina fillet on a bed of steamed broccoli and fresh snow peas. This kind of dish is perfect for those trying to keep the scale going down rather than up. And it was excellent. The fish was seared but not dry, and the vegetables were brimming with freshness (NIS 108).
Across the table, my partner enjoyed a dish of mascarpone ravioli and grouper, served with celery puree, hazelnuts and thyme (NIS 72). It was as good as it sounds.
The flavors were so good, that we decided to savor them and skip dessert and go for a stroll on the boulevard. A perfect ending to a great dinner.
With such a prime location, great service and, above all, Miller’s innovative and sumptuous creations, we believe this corner – which was the location of the legendary Pastis restaurant – will be Tel Aviv’s newest hot spot.
The writer was a guest of the restaurant.

Shulchan Not kosher 73 Rothschild Blvd.. Tel Aviv (03) 525-7171