Sami Tamimi

Sami Tamimi was born and raised in Jerusalem and was immersed in food from childhood. He started his career as commis-chef in a Jerusalem hotel and worked his way up, through many restaurants and ethnic traditions, to become head chef of Lilith, one of the top restaurants in Tel Aviv in the 1990's. Sami moved to London in 1997 and worked at Baker & Spice as head chef, where he set up a traiteur section with a rich Middle-Eastern and Mediterranean spread. In 2002 he partnered with Noam Bar and...See more

Sami Tamimi was born and raised in Jerusalem and was immersed in food from childhood. He started his career as commis-chef in a Jerusalem hotel and worked his way up, through many restaurants and ethnic traditions, to become head chef of Lilith, one of the top restaurants in Tel Aviv in the 1990's. Sami moved to London in 1997 and worked at Baker & Spice as head chef, where he set up a traiteur section with a rich Middle-Eastern and Mediterranean spread. In 2002 he partnered with Noam Bar and Yotam Ottolenghi to set up Ottolenghi in Notting Hill. The company now has five delis and two restaurants, NOPI and ROVI, all in central London. At Ottolenghi, Sami and Yotam created a concept that has proven a huge success from day one, serving trademark savoury food and pastries, providing catering and running two busy restaurants in central London. Over the years, Sami was in charge of food creativity and nurturing younger chefs around the company. Alongside Yotam Ottolenghi, Sami Tamimi is co-author of two bestselling cookbooks: Ottolenghi: The Cookbook and Jerusalem: A Cookbook. Sami's third cookbook Falastin is co-authored with Tara Wigley and was the winner of the Fortnum & Mason Cookery Book of the Year 2021. See less