Sami Tamimi

Yotam Ottolenghi's completed a Masters degree in philosophy and literature whilst working on the news desk of an Israeli daily, but made a radical shift on coming to London in 1997. He started as an assistant pastry chef at the Capital and then worked at Kensington Place, Launceston Place, Maison Blanc and Baker and Spice, before starting his own eponymous group of restaurants/food shops, with branches in Notting Hill, Islington, Belgravia and Kensington. He has written two bestselling cookbooks, Ottolenghi: The Cookbook and Plenty. Sami Tamimi became head chef at Lilith in Tel Aviv in 1989, and moved to London in 1997 where he set up the traiteur section at Baker & Spice. It was here that he met Yotam and he has since worked as head chef at Ottolenghi.