Penguin (restaurant)
Restaurant in Israel
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Penguin (Hebrew: פינגווין; German: Pinguin) was the oldest restaurant in Nahariya and one of Israel's oldest surviving restaurants.[1] It was located on the Ga'aton Boulevard, opposite the Ga'aton River. The cuisine was Israeli[1] with German influences. Its signature dish was the chicken schnitzel.[2] The restaurant was continuously family owned and operated.
History
Penguin was founded as a 1940 kiosk by Ernst Oppenheimer,[3] who arrived in 1936 from Offenbach am Main, Germany and initially tried to make a living by farming.[4][5] It was named after Penguin Books.[4] Penguin developed into a restaurant and bar that was popular with the German immigrants of Nahariya and, until 1948, with the British Mandate soldiers.[4]
In the 2010s the restaurant was managed by Amir Oppenheimer, a great-grandson of the founder.[6] The restaurant closed on 26 December 2022. Its area, by now precious real-estate, will be redeveloped.