SHMONÉ
Shmoné puts a counter in front of a tight kitchen on West 8th Street. The menu moves with the market: spring vegetables one night, a haul off the local boats a few days later. It holds one MICHELIN star in the 2025 guide. Eyal Shani founded it and Orianne Shapira runs the kitchen.
Why go
Shani was born in Jerusalem in 1959. His grandfather was an agronomist and a vegan, and he walked the boy through the markets, the fields and the vineyards. That is why the salads come out piled high. Shani opened his first room, Oceanus, in Jerusalem in 1989. He and Shahar Segal now run about forty restaurants around the world.
Shapira came off nearly six years running HaSalon in New York. That is Shani's other room here. She trained in pastry at the Danon Culinary Center in Tel Aviv. She also spent fifteen years as a professional dancer, and held a full-time role at the Batsheva Dance Company there.
The MICHELIN inspector calls the meat a particular strength and names the bone-in beef short rib and a layered wagyu flatiron steak.
Order this / avoid
- Order: the Jerusalem bagel first.
- Order: a salad, which is the format the whole kitchen is built around, and the short rib after it.
- Avoid: arriving late. The room is small and it fills from the moment the doors open.
What locals & experts say
- The MICHELIN inspector, on the Jerusalem bagel: it
arrives piping hot with olive oil and is a knockout even in a city well known for its beloved bagels.
1 - The kitchen, on its own method: it works
with dishes evolving and appearing as their ingredients ripen and age
.3 - I have not found a review of this room by a named New York critic.
Good to know
- Where: 61 West 8th Street.
- Next door: Shmoné Wine at 65 West 8th opened in February 2025 and takes no reservations at all.
Verdict
should-visit — Book online for six or fewer, and ask for the counter. Above that the kitchen serves one prix fixe and you book it direct with the restaurant, and a party over twelve buys the room out.