Hand-made matzo from Rokhat Kosher Bakery in Rego Park, Queens. Image by Liza Schoenfein

By Liza Schoenfein April 25, 2016

Only the most beautiful matzo in the world could have compelled me to stop greeting my Passover guests and instead go grab my camera and set up a photo shoot, just as friends and family were arriving for our Seder Friday night.

But when Chelsea Miller — dear friend, former babysitter for our boys and current knife-maker extraordinaire — walked in cradling a huge bag containing three handmade, nested bowl-shaped matzos — the most beautiful matzo I had ever seen — everything else had to stop. Because I wanted you to see this stuff.

Called noni toki, it’s from Rokhat Kosher Bakery in Rego Park, Queens. The shop is run by brothers Roschiel and Rafael Samekhov, who come from Bukhara, Uzbekistan. Chelsea told me it’s made by shaping the dough over the back of a wok. When we broke into it at the Seder, we found it to be crisp and light, with a pleasant hint of salt and flame.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis of the crisis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

I tried calling the store today to get more information, but there was no answer. I’ll find out more soon. For now, just look.

Rokhat Kosher Bakery is located at 65-43 Austin St. in Rego Park. The number is 718-897-4493.

Liza Schoenfein is food editor at the Forward. Contact her at schoenfein @forward.com or on Twitter, @LifeDeathDinner

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.

This year, we have stood together in strength and sorrow. Our Forward team has worked around the clock to help you find clarity amid the chaos.

If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.

Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism. 

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$36 $500

$120 $180 Other amount