Shmil Holland

Shmil Holland is one of Jerusalem’s most well-known chefs famous for his dairy dishes.
Inspired by his grandmother’s stories and Eastern European recipes, Shmil began to research their roots. Shmil studied in the History Department of Hebrew University, studied Yiddish and spent time in the training department of Yad Ben-Zvi and yet in his free time he found himself wandering the streets of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv in search of raw materials used in his grandmother’s Jewish cuisine.
Love of cooking and the fact that there is a history for each dish, encouraged Shmil to follow his passion. In 1992 he opened a dairy catering company to cater small events and it quickly became one of the unique catering companies operating in the country at that time. In 2006 he opened a restaurant in Jerusalem at the Old Train Station Compound, called “Shmil in the Lab.” The restaurant, which operated until 2010, redefined Israeli dairy cuisine.
Today Shmil offers a tour and cooking workshop at the Shem Tov Restaurant in the center of Jerusalem’s Mahane Yehuda “Shuk” Market. Workshops with Shmil include a dialogue between the practice of food preparation and tracing the history and folklore of the foods and the market.
To arrange a Shuk Tour and Cooking Workshop at Shem Tov on your next trip to Israel please contact [email protected]