Laffa goes with CK
COMMUNITY Kashrut (CK) has dealt a blow to the Kashrut Authority (KA) by providing a hechsher to Laffa Bar, the first new fleishig kosher restaurant in Sydney in 10 years.
COMMUNITY Kashrut (CK) has dealt a blow to the Kashrut Authority (KA) by providing a hechsher to Laffa Bar, the first new fleishig kosher restaurant in Sydney in 10 years.
“The original problem with KA was the butcher, not allowing us to use Continental meat, which comes from Melbourne,” owner Reuven Nahoom explained.
“I’ve been using Continental from day one [at the original Laffa Bar] in Melbourne,” he said, adding that he wanted his Sydney customers to enjoy exactly the same meat.
Nahoom noted the KA did discuss the option of sending their own shochet once a month to slaughter meat for the restaurant, “but one more thing was the high cost of the mashgiach and the high cost of actually being under the KA”.
“In the kosher food industry, we work under very low margins so the KA was a bit too tight for me to work with,” he said.
Nahoom said if some kosher consumers chose to stay away, “it’s their choice, I can’t do anything about it”.
But he said: “At the end of the day, Laffa Bar Bondi and Laffa Bar Melbourne are under the same butcher, under the same shochet, and the ingredients are going to be exactly the same.
“We’re going to keep exactly the same suppliers – the only thing that’s going to be different is the piece of paper on the front door which is not going to say KA, it’s going to say CK.
“Those customers are coming and eating in Melbourne anyway, so I can’t see why they won’t come and eat here if we’re using the same meat.”
CK president David Sandler said: “Community Kashrut is committed to working together with the community to provide for its kosher needs and we are delighted to welcome Laffa Bar to Sydney.
“Ruby and his team have built an exceptional business in Melbourne and it is testimony to the growing maturity of the local kosher community in Sydney that experienced operators such as Laffa Bar are choosing to expand their offering into the Sydney market.”
CK was established on the back of a report into the state of kashrut in NSW, which determined there were fundamental issues within the community that needed addressing – a finding the KA disputed.
The KA declined to comment on Laffa’s hechsher.
GARETH NARUNSKY
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