Australia might not have its own actual food spot helmed by foodie fave Yotam Ottolenghi beyond the ‘Simple’ cookbook being in sharehouse bookshelves, but we’ve come a step closer to it, now that one of his head chefs has opened her own deli in Kiama, on the NSW south coast.
Otis deli is run by Emily Herbert, who finished up a four-year stint working for the cult-fave chef at Ottolenghi NOPI in Belgravia in the UK, and has brought all the knowledge from the Israeli-English chef back to her homeland.
Emily spoke with Good Food about opening her own spot in God’s country (yes being I’m wildly biased here) and said she learned more from the four years of working for, and alongside, Ottolenghi than she had in the 15 years beforehand.
You can expect the standard deli fare at Otis – big, colourful salads, through to Middle Eastern treats like Turkish bread called simit (lovingly nicknamed ‘bretzels’), hommus topped with smokey tomato sauce and breakfast pickles, vegemite braised mushrooms, tofu scramble, and my absolute favourite; shakshuka.
It’s Israeli baked eggs, and it’s bloody DELICIOUS. Emily at the Otis Deli gang have topped their with labneh and popped some sourdough on the side and I’m absolutely salivating for it.
Otis Deli is open on Kiama’s main strip across from Hindmarsh Park from 8am till 5pm, every day except Tuesday.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be spending the rest of the afternoon daydreaming about my beloved south coast and wishing I was by the ocean eating deli treats that would 100% be approved by Yotam Ottolenghi himself.
