Raz Rahav

In just seven years, head chef Raz Rahav has cooked his way to the top of Middle Eastern Cuisine, ranking third in “MENA's 50 Best Restaurants” in 2022. Rahav originally wanted to become an architect, but a visit to the restaurant “Eleven Madison Park” in New York abruptly changed his career dreams. Fascinated by the way of working and handling food, he abandoned his architecture studies and started a traineeship at the “Popina” restaurant in Tel Aviv, with the aim of running later on his own restaurant. His dream came true in 2016: he opened a restaurant called “OCD” in Tel Aviv, the name standing for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. His 19-course experience menu is served to only 19 guests per evening. The dishes combine techniques from the Eastern Mediterranean cuisine and from haute cuisine, with recipes and flavours from the Pan-Jewish and Israeli culinary heritage. The right track of Rahav’s choice was quickly confirmed, as he was directly named Chef of the Year at GaultMillau’s Israeli premiere in 2018. Rahav is also strongly committed to sustainability and a zero waste approach. For this reason, the young chef and his team use the OCD space all day long to experiment and prepare the components of every single dish.