In Israel, there's hardly a tougher, grittier area than Tel Aviv's central station neighborhood, merging old and new. Despite the aesthetics being grim and the area notorious for drug dealers, the Ben Baruch couple managed to create a pleasant neighborhood café, defying the odds.
The residential and business landscape is bleak, yet amidst it lies a culinary gem – Neve Sha'anan Street. From its modern beginning to its older end, it offers unparalleled culinary richness, becoming a hub for lovers of Asian cuisine while preserving authentic flavors.
There's no generic "Asian restaurant" here. Vietnamese, Chinese, and of course Filipino restaurants alongside supermarkets and delicatessens with unique products, African representation with affordable, tasty Sudanese and Eritrean eateries embraced by Israelis. Amidst gentrification attempts, pockets of authenticity persist.
One such initiative is Matoko, a cookie and dessert production house and café located on Solomon Street, corner of Negev. Founded three years ago by Evyatar and Lian Ben Baruch, a couple described as "young and nice," found themselves transitioning from previous careers (advertising for Evyatar, acquisitions for Lian) to the world of sweet foods.
"We started just before COVID hit in Jaffa, where we live," they said, as we basked in the pleasant winter sun outside Matoko. "Lian participated in the first season of the reality show 'Bake Off,' and we really loved it. We spent about half a year perfecting a recipe for perfect malabi and then we posted it on Facebook, and the thing exploded."
Lian continues to recount her husband's dreams while she takes charge of the execution. "One day he woke up with a dream to bake a giant cookie the size of a pizza tray. This initiative also took off quickly, and people gathered under our house and ate giant cookies in groups while leaning on their cars. We did everything ourselves, from receiving the order to delivering the cookies. The audience was convinced we were a factory, when all we were was a couple baking in their home kitchen."
At this point, COVID hit hard, deliveries slowed, and the couple had to rethink their strategy. "We couldn't bake at home anymore, so we decided to rent our own place and be the best we could be. And if we were to excel, it would be in the strongest city, Tel Aviv."
Initially, they considered opening a place that would function as a sort of catering kitchen, not exposed to customers. But eventually, they realized there was a demand for a real café in the southern neighborhood of the city. "When we opened, everything was filthy around us, spray paint from every direction, and trash. I started to grab the street cleaning truck to pay more attention to the corner, and after a year all sorts of office workers and businesses around asked me to add tables and chairs, so there would be a place to sit with coffee and pastry. Suddenly families with children from the neighborhood started coming, and a neighborhood café was born."
Good coffee and nice pastries were just the beginning; Matoko quickly added insane cookies baked on-site, exactly to customer demand. "Our dream cookie is composed just the way you like it. We don't like to limit choices. It's a simple three-step concept – you choose the dough type (classic, cocoa, or vegan), move on to the chocolate chip types you desire, and finish with unlimited toppings in the form of colorful candy, or dark, milk, or white chocolate coins, and there's also a bagel or Oreo topping. Then you wait 7 minutes for baking and get your dream cookie."
Healthy eating isn't exactly their priority, but doing good to the heart is. On their website, you'll find a tantalizing array of small cookie combinations, the talked-about giant platters, the famous malabi, and plenty of options for personal customization in deliveries or pickups.
Outside, around us, local election banners still hang, almost cynically. Hopefully, those who promised to take care of the Neve Sha'anan neighborhood will indeed nurture it. "We've been here for three years, and I'm the only one initiating things here in an attempt to make the neighborhood more pleasant," says Ben Baruch. "The sweet merchandise left at the end of the day goes to the children of the area, and I see the sparkle in their eyes, but when I wanted them to draw on the sidewalk with chalk, to give them some different activity, they told me it was possible on condition that I didn't join them and didn't publicize it, so they wouldn't know. In hindsight, I discover that there are evening events here, in a place that could have shared action with me to stay open. Urban initiatives are hiding from me. Across the street, a new building is being built whose initiators congratulate my place, for them it's proof of normal life, it enhances their real estate. Who doesn't want a nice, friendly café in the middle of a not-so-easy neighborhood?"
All this leads to a sense of resignation. "I'm gradually stopping with the social initiatives, even though I pay rent and taxes just like a café in Rabin Square, I feel I don't receive the same treatment, and ultimately they will cause me to focus only on my corner, and that's it. Isn't it a shame?"
Matoko, Salomon 7, Tel Aviv, 03-7558555.