While Israel’s food industry is preoccupied with upheaval surrounding cooking shows and new casting decisions shaking up prime-time television, chef Assaf Granit is continuing to expand his business empire in Paris.
In the coming days, he will open his first chef-driven gelateria in the French capital, not far from his Michelin-starred restaurant.
Licouk will become Granit’s fifth business in Paris, joining Shabour, Tekes, Shana and Kapara, which is currently undergoing renovations. Within weeks, the group is also expected to open a new fish and seafood restaurant in the 16th arrondissement, overlooking the Seine and the Eiffel Tower. It, too, will carry a Hebrew name: Dagim, meaning “fish.”
The idea behind Licouk, Granit said, was to create “ice cream made by cooks.” The gelato will be prepared in an open kitchen designed to resemble a restaurant workspace. The name combines the English words “lick” and “cook,” reflecting the culinary approach behind the concept.
The menu will feature bold flavors that reinterpret familiar dishes. Among them are rice-and-noodle ice cream, olive oil ice cream topped with blini and caviar, lemon tart ice cream and a decadent babka ice cream sandwich.
Granit and his Mahane Yehuda Group partners, Uri Navon, Dan Yosha and Tomer Landsman, do not plan to stop in Paris. Their goal is to turn Licouk into an international gelateria chain, which may eventually reach Israel as well.
“We had wanted to open a gelateria for a long time, but not one run by a pastry chef,” Granit told ynet. “We wanted a gelateria with extreme flavors, where cooks make the ice cream and customers can see the production in an open, stainless-steel kitchen that looks just like a restaurant kitchen.”
“It unleashes our creativity,” he said. “We approach the flavors the way cooks do, and suddenly the entire world of possibilities opens up. It is more of a kitchen and less of a gelateria.”
“We approach the flavors the way cooks do". Licouk, Paris
(Photo: PR)
How is business in Paris, given the challenges Israeli businesses are facing in Europe?
“We are expanding in Paris at a breakneck pace, and it has become the center of our European operations. The restaurant on the French Riviera is also doing well, which is encouraging because running an Israeli business in Europe is genuinely not easy. But everyone knows we are Israeli. Our restaurant names are in Hebrew, and the new one will be called Dagim. We are not hiding who we are.”
And how are things in Jerusalem?
“You can hear a little more English on the streets of Jerusalem, which is a good sign because it means tourists are beginning to return to Israel. It is already the start of something, because without tourism, Jerusalem is missing a major economic engine.”
As for the future, Granit said Licouk was conceived from the outset as a chain. “The next branch will be in London or Paris,” he said. “The ambition is also to bring it to Israel and not leave it confined to Europe. We will definitely want to open a branch in Israel.”