| Yotam Ottolenghi | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 1968 (age 43) Israel |
| Occupation | Chef, writer |
| Nationality | Italian, Israeli |
|
www.ottolenghi.co.uk |
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Yotam Ottolenghi (1968) is an Israeli-born chef and restaurant owner.
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Yotam Ottolenghi was born in Jerusalem on 14 December 1968, son of Michael, a professor of chemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Ruth, a high-school principal. His mother is German and his father is Italian.[1] He grew up in Jerusalem's Ramat Denya neighborhood. After serving in the Israel Defense Forces, he studied philosophy at Tel-Aviv University. He also holds a masters degree in comparative literature.[2] In 1997, he moved to the UK and trained at the Le Cordon Bleu in London for six months. He lives in west London with his partner, Karl Allen.
Ottolenghi worked as a pastry chef at The Capital restaurant in Knightsbridge. From there, he moved to the Kensington Place restaurants and eventually became head pastry chef at Baker and Spice in Chelsea, London. In 2002 he established the Ottolenghi deli with Sami Tamimi [3] and Noam Bar.
As of 2010, Ottolenghi has four outlets in London: Notting Hill, Kensington, Belgravia and Islington. The Islington branch is the only branch which is a full-blown restaurant, while the other branches are take-away delis/ cafes.
In February 2011 his company opened NOPI, a restaurant on Warwick Street in Soho, London.[4]
Ottolenghi writes a weekly food column in the Guardian weekend Saturday magazine.[5] For four years the column was titled The New Vegetarian, and in 2011 it was expanded to include other recipes. Ottolenghi published two best-selling cookery books, Ottolenghi: The Cookbook, written with Sami Tamimi, and Plenty, winner of a Galaxy National Book Award 2010.[6] In 2011 Plenty was also published in the US, Germany and Holland.