Thai 148 restaurant has been operating for just over a year on Dizengoff Street in Tel Aviv, but the word “just” applies only if you’re referring to the food industry outside of Israel and to scenes from completely different cities and traffic arteries. Here, in the very center (of the center), every week deserves a tribute, and every month is a world unto itself. And so, the time has come for the next phase.
The group of partner-owners who run it—and other places on the street and in the city as a whole—have treated it from the start as a test site, a place to examine their operations, their model, their past and present, on the way to the future. And the future is an entirely new restaurant, in an entirely new location.
Welcome to Sorin. The flames are on the way.
“We always knew we’d expand at some point, and we feel this is the right time for such a move,” said Gal Cohen, one of the partners, along with Din Reichel, Asaf Cohen, and Elad Adler. “We’re ready and mature, we received many offers from many places, and we’re happy to know we found a home—not just landlords.”
That home is the G Center in Savyon, a relatively new shopping center in the community, which is becoming a pretty hot food magnet. The Mila restaurant has been operating there for over a year, alongside Dolce Mila, as well as the Beit Shean branch of Moon. For them, this competition only makes the move more worthwhile. “We’ve never viewed this kind of density as a hurdle. On the contrary. We believe competition is good for everyone,” he explained. “It makes you better and sharpens you and makes you work harder. After all, Tel Aviv is saturated with restaurants. The supply is huge, and the demand is ultimately quite limited. Within this bubbling market, Thai 148 passed the hurdle successfully.”
The new Sorin—named after one of Thailand’s beautiful provinces—was born following an inspiration tour in the popular island country and the realization that Thai food has yet to fulfill even a fraction of its potential here.
Thus, Chef Omi, who also runs the Dizengoff kitchen, built a colorful menu that emphasizes starters and salads, and features two prominent bars—one classic, for cocktails and alcohol, and the other a cold bar that will offer a show of pestles and joyful bowls—and he never stops creating. “We want to take our diners with us on a journey,” declared Cohen. “This cuisine is endless, and we’ve only just begun to get to know it and taste it.”
The deal with the G City group, estimated at about NIS 6 million, includes a 15-year lease going forward, with steps and milestones as customary. The space itself is large, with about 180 seating options in total (compared to about 110–120 at the original Dizengoff restaurant), and the regional potential of the Ono Valley is even greater. “We really connected with the place—there’s a young atmosphere here and families who love to go out and eat,” said Cohen. “And this audience, especially in this location, creates a good opportunity for all of us to succeed.”
For him and his partners, this is by no means a replication—not a branch, the forbidden word in the Israeli food jargon. “Sorin is the natural evolution of Thai,” he emphasized. “The foundation is naturally quite similar, and the good things will remain. There will be a happy street vibe, great music, and good noise reminiscent of Dizengoff, but we did manage to thoughtfully and carefully plan what we want to be here, and to create the desired experience.”
Sorin, the shopping center in Savyon, opening in September