Sharon Cohen

The Training The traceable path of Cohen’s cooking runs through Shila, the Tel Aviv restaurant where Cohen serves as chef. Without leaning on spectacle, the work described there begins with refinement: flavors are tightened, presentations are considered, and the plate becomes a way to express life, people, the city, and the Mediterranean. That set of influences gives the cooking its family resemblance. Tel Aviv is not treated as scenery; it is part of the sensibility. The Mediterranean is not an abstract source of ingredients; it is the climate around the food, especially in the handling of raw seafood and shellfish.

The Lineage Cohen’s lineage is clearest in the way the restaurant’s menu moves between delicacy and depth. Fresh fish tartar with avocado, almonds, and mint appears as a starter, a dish that places raw fish at the center while giving it fat, crunch, and cool herbal lift. Another thread follows through gnocchi with shrimp and asparagus, served in a fresh tomato sauce. The dish connects softness, shellfish, green snap, and acidity, holding close to the Mediterranean language that defines Cohen’s stated approach. The menu also reaches land with medallion of beef ribeye with shiitake mushrooms, served with cauliflower and creamed spinach. In that plate, the restaurant’s range widens without abandoning its concern for balance and refined flavor. The craft lies in making the raw feel composed: fish, shellfish, herbs, nuts, vegetables, and sauces arranged so that the flavors remain direct. The aim is not only technical control. Cohen’s cooking is framed by a desire to test limits, refine flavor, and express attachment to life, people, Tel Aviv, and the Mediterranean. That philosophy gives the restaurant its emotional center: food as a way of carrying place, appetite, and human warmth into a room.