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Staying at the beautiful
Sheraton Jerusalem Plaza Hotel, Splash Magazines Worldwide Editor-in-Chief/Publisher
Lawrence Davis is intrigued when he learns that the hotel’s
Executive Chef has been working there for
30 years. He sits down to talk to
Chef Shalom Kadosh and isn’t surprised to find many awards and pictures of his accomplishments on the surrounding walls.
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Chef Shalom Kadosh
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Kadosh's office wall
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Kadosh's awards
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Davis asks
Chef Kadosh how he feels about being the
Executive Chef for so long in one hotel, and
Chef Kadosh responds by saying: “As you say, over 30 years here in
Jerusalem is something unusual for an
Executive Chef but when you work in a place good for both sides there’s no reason to move other places.” Though it is a job that he obviously enjoys, it is nonetheless not an easy duty.
Chef Kadosh spills to
Davis that every morning, he feels like he has to prove himself, saying that he always needs to update recipes.
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Chef Kadosh's office
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Sheraton Jerusalem Plaza Hotel restaurant
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“You can’t rely on dinner of yesterday that was good, you have also today, everyday people judge you,” he insists. He calls his job interesting, but very tough.
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Chef Kadosh's office
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Chef Kadosh’s motivation comes from the responses of people that eat and enjoy his meals. When he hears that a meal is successful, it motivates him to continue pleasing people. He was the first chef to ever bring
gourmet food to hotel restaurants. His belief is that when people “come to the hotel, they still need to have a good meal.” Before his restaurant started serving gourmet meals, guests in hotel restaurants didn’t have much choice in their meals. He is proud to say that he “changed completely the idea of that time,” and is happy to be the one leading this evolution.
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The restaurant
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The restaurant's kitchen
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One of
Chef Kadosh’s biggest dreams is to serve a kosher dinner to all
Arab leaders around
Israel. He fulfilled part of this dream when he served some
Arab leaders, along with serving
Cartier,
Clinton,
Bush and
Queens. He says he was lucky to prepare dinner for
King Hussein of Jordan, and he hopes to continue cooking for other Arab leaders. Keeping kosher is not simple as there is sometimes no way around the dietary rules and thus some recipes must be ruled out. When asked how keeping kosher affects
Chef Kadosh, he replies: “It is a handicap.”
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Chef Kadosh with Bill Clinton
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He may call it a handicap, but it’s a handicap that
Chef Kadosh successfully works around. He shares a great story about how after cooking a kosher meal for the
President of France,
the President came over to ask
Chef Kadosh if the meal was actually kosher.
Chef Kadosh says that moments like these make it worthwhile.
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Sheraton Jerusalem Plaza Hotel restaurant
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To hear
Chef Kadosh tell this charming story, click here: (Coming soon!)
But can cooking for
Arab leaders help along the peace process? “I think through food everything comes more easy,”
Chef Kadosh says, hoping that peace will come.
Chef Kadosh also cooks large meals, such as banquets at the
Dead Sea or
Masada, and he enjoys those because they give him lots of energy. One of his favourite memories was 10 years ago, when a dinner took place to celebrate 3,000 years in
Jerusalem. Chefs came from all over the world, from the
United States,
France,
Switzerland,
Italy, and more. The 12 course dinner put “
Israeli gastronomy on the world map of gastronomy because they saw world chefs come together under one umbrella to make a kosher meal,”
Chef Kadosh happily explains. He continues to talk about
Chef Paul Prudhomme, who came from New Orleans.
Chef Paul Prudhomme was in a wheelchair and
Chef Kadosh will never forget that
Chef Prudhomme told him “’when u invite me to come I don’t know how I can do it but I’m so happy I made it to come’ and he was really very very nice.”
Chef Kadosh was glad he decided to come, as he speaks highly of the chef and says: “I was very happy that he could do it.”
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Chefs from around the world
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When chefs from around the world come together to cook, it is no doubt that many different languages are at play. But
Chef Kadosh doesn’t think different languages present a barrier. “That was the easy part; the hard part is to convince them to make kosher food,” he chuckles. One time, an
Italian chef came to J
erusalem and wanted to make
Parmesan Rissoto with
leaves of gold.
Chef Kadosh recalls that the chef said that if he’s coming to
Jerusalem, that’s exactly the dish he wants to serve. But
Chef Kadosh, unsure if the gold was kosher or not, told the
Italian chef that he would need to check with the Rabbi first. The
Italian chef’s response was that in Italy, you can’t eat meat on Friday but his Priest allowed him to so he’ll be able to clear with the Rabbi to use “a little parmesan.”
Chef Kadosh tried to tell the chef that the Priest and Rabbi and Mashgiaḥ (one who supervises food in a kosher establishment), are very different, but the
Italian chef said “don’t worry, leave it to me.”
To find out what happened, listen to
Chef Kadosh tell the story by clicking here: (Coming soon!)
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Lawrence Davis and Chef Kadosh
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Of course it couldn’t happen, as
Chef Kadosh knew all along. He and
Davis laughed together at this, and then it was time for
Davis to go. He left understanding why the full of life
Chef Kadosh has been the
Executive Chef for 30 years, and has no doubt that he will be there for many more years to come. It is nice to stay at a hotel like the
Sheraton Jerusalem Plaza Hotel, with an
Executive Chef that genuinely cares so much about his business and is always determined to please guests with his cooking.
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Chef Kadosh enjoys his job
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To read a full review about the
Sheraton Jerusalem Plaza Hotel, click here.
To find out what happens next in Davis' trip to Israel, click here.
To read about Rent-a-Guide Tours, click here.
To read about Davis’ trip to Tel Aviv, click here.
To read about Davis’ trip in Jaffa and Tel Aviv, click here.
To read about Davis’ ride from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, click here.
To read about Davis' trip in the Old City of Jerusalem, click here.
To read about Davis' trip to Jerusalem from his Uncle's perspective, click here.
For more information on
Rent-a-Guide Tours, please visit their site by clicking here.
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