Falafel Baribua | Yad Harutzim 15, Tel-Aviv

Although named Falafel Baribua (which means square falafel), the venue (part of a chain) also offers quite the mean hummus - and a vegan take on shawarma (doner).

On this occasion I had a wonderful plate of hummus, with fava beans, chickpeas, tahini, parsley, olive oil and a garnish of paprika.

Complementary falafel and pickles were also provided.

While the price was rather costly for a plate of hummus - there were the added side dishes (albeit some places add them for free).

The service is great - but it tends to get confused if you choose to sit at the outside tables.

The place is clean and well designed, with a good lighting which really ads to the mood.

The service is really friendly, and the place itself is also vegan friendly which makes the experience even more positive.

Overall - the food is delicious and there's a vast menu considering this is a falafel based location.

Hummus Bahadunas | Yad Harutzim 11, Tel-Aviv

Bahadunas is a well known and rather popular hummus franchise, with most branches operating around the times people go to lunch and located near office populated areas.

They specialize in hummus and ful (fava \ broad beans), and are known for adding unorthodox toppings onto your hummus plate - they almost insist adding chopped onions (which horrify me) and propose salads and pickles as well. The pickles are actually a good option.

In the image above is a plate of hummus, with ful, chickpeas, tahini, chopped parsley, olive oil, spicy coriander (cilantro) paste and obviously pickled cucumbers.

It was rather great, although it took more than a while to get my plate due to poor service skills.

The place is clean, well designed, not too costly and the slow service comes with a friendly smile.

A Visit to Hummus Abu Adham

Abu Adam is probably at the top of my all time favorite hummus list.

The amazing hummus, hearty service, low reasonable pricing and infinite refills are a what hummus enthusiasts' dreams are made of.

This is just one in a series of frequent visits - hopefully I'll soon gather a post reviewing all of them combined. 

hummus, fave beans, tahini, egg, parsley, cumin, paprika

There's no way do textually describe just how good this hummus is, so all you can really do is stare at this picture and envy me.

Seriously, it's really good.

If you happen to be in the area - don't miss it!

Hummus Said | Another day, another chickpea.

Lunchin' with the missus and my work friends is fun.

The only downside is when you have a bunch of people trying to decide where to go for food.

On this occasion it was surprisingly easy; everyone wanted to eat at Said's Tel-Aviv branch.

Who am I to disagree? It's nearby, delicious and fairly priced.

msabbaha: a mix of hummus, tahini, chickpeas, lemon juice and hot sauce

The missus ordered a msabbaha and was very pleased with it.

The warm, spicy and savory dish is a great take on hummus, with the chickpeas mixed into the hummus-tahini mash-up, as well as added on top for texture and flavor.

Freshly chopped parsley is a colorful garnish but also adds lots of fresh flavor.

mahluta: hummus, ful (fava beans) chickpeas, tahini, spicy lemon sauce, olive oil and paprika 

The mahluta is my favorite spin on hummus in this fine location.

The hot fava bean stew is a great contrast with the room-temperature hummus and the cold tahini.

The warm chickpeas add a texture play to every bite, and the lemony-spicy sauce that is added makes you want to dip your pita again and again.

Bottom line: while the original Said (located in Acre, Israel - locally known as Akko) is well known for an amazing hummus - this branch has a hummus paste that is average by itself, and is usually upstaged by the supplements.

However, to get to Akko I'd have to take a train, so this is pretty good for a work lunch.

Also: if you're there - try the shawarma.   

HaCarmel Hummus

In the middle of Tel-Aviv's HaCarmel market, on the market's busiest steer, lies a hummus placed named after the street it's located on. Hummus HaCarmel is also named Hummus Magen David (star of David), a name that goes well with the interior design. Numerous Judaic artifacts, books and even some of the seats used to be synagogue benches.

But the main thing, their hummus, it's divine.

  hummus, soft chickpeas, parsley, pickles, skhug and a can of non-alcoholic malt beer

A few warnings:

• Self service! Go to the counter, make your order, take your food and sit down in one of the two halls available.
• Make sure you know what you want: Hummus HaCarmel offer a unique style of plating in which all of the stuff that's often served in several dishes is piled onto your plate so if you don't want a side of pickles, skhug or chopped onion you better pay attention.
• The skhug is amazing. Their version of this popular hot sauce is closer to the traditional green Yemenite skhug but it's not all green chilli peppers; there's a touch of cilantro and chunks of red stuff that might be tomatoes but also could be red peppers. It's not the deadliest hot sauce, it's moist and not as oily as others in this genre, but it might physically hurt some of you.
• The pricing is absurd. You won't get these prices anywhere. They charge roughly 50% less than anyone out there on both food and drinks. I'm guessing that the self service and the fact that they have lots of diners helps them to not lose money that way, or maybe they're just less greedy.

hummus, soft chickpeas, parsley, pickles, skhug, olive oil

This is my current favorite and I make an effort to visit every Friday.

It's hard to argue which hummus is the best since it's a matter of personal taste, but this is certainly not one of the bad ones.

The taste is rich, the paste is smooth and creamy, the toppings add a whole new dimension of textures that other hummus venues seldom explore.

I'd give Hummus HaCarmel five stars or a 10/10 rating, but I don't do that shit, it's not that kind of blog.

The Three Way Hummus (Meshuleshet)

Fauzi Ful take the centuries old art of hummus to new heights

The "Meshulesht" (Heb. triplet) is a popular dish in Israeli and Arab hummus restaurants.

Basically, it's a taster's platter of the hummus staples:

• Plain: Just hummus (other variations are with toppings such as boiled eggs, cooked chickpeas, olive oil, tahini, spices, parsley etc)
• Masabaha: A mix of hummus, tahini, chickpeas, spices, garlic, lemon and often hot peppers. Usually the mix of all the above is prepared upon order and is served warm, smothered with olive oil.
• Ful (fava beans): The beans are cooked until soft and usually served hot, on top of plain hummus. The fava bean stew is usually lemony.

The plate seen in the picture has all three, plus a hard boiled egg, a generous amount of olive oil, cumin, paprika and freshly chopped parsley. 

This was an amazing meshuleshet  I ate at Fauzi Ful, a new hummus place in South Tel-Aviv. It's located on the outskitrts of the Florentine neighborhood, bordering with Jaffa.

The place is a tiny one story building, randomly placed on the edge of a parking lot. It is surprisingly clean, well lit, welcoming and exceptionally affordable (somehow they offer the lowest prices in the area).

Above all, the hummus there is awesome.

I was told that the owner and head cook left the nearby Bethlehem Hummus to start a business of his own - the results are outstanding.

A great meal for a sunny summer afternoon.

This monkey's gone to heaven

Imagine there's a mediocre place near your house, it serves mediocre food but the price is right and they even have good days on which the food is great. This imaginary place serves humus, shawarma, skewered meat and other staples of the Arab cuisine.

Now imagine that this made up place is closed for renovation. They splash some paint around, move the furniture, cover the floor with old newspaper. A sign on the see through glass door says it'll be open in no time.

They never come back tough. The place is closed, the work just ceased one day. Nothing moves inside, no one, no sign of live. The place is abandoned.

This happened to me. This place is real to me.

The place was always packed, there was no sign of anything going wrong.

Was this my fault? Did I not deserve a place near my home that serves a variety of food that I like?

This is in loving memory of Sayid's Original Hummus of Akko (the Tel-Aviv branch).

Superb falafel balls with fries and some ketchup

Fresh salad: cucumber, tomato, parsley, all finely chopped and served with lemon juice

A lovely plate of humus, with soft chickpeas in the middle, covered with olive oil and tahini

Food porn: lots of chicken

Part of a raid on an all you an eat Indian buffet. You should be able to spot a curry chickpea dish, some tikka chicken, vegetables, colorful rice and on top there are several vegetables deep fried in batter (pakoras).

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A baguette with some pieces of chicken schnitzel, salad and tahini sauce, with fries on the side. On non nom.

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Hummus by Youness, it's pretty good but there's very little of in on the plate. No refills with this one and as of late they are having a streak of bad day regarding their service and quality of food.

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Chicken skewers and beans over white rice. The beans came in some tomato based sauce which was so natural it was almost tasteless.

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Spicy chicken noodles with coconut sauce and crushed peanuts on top. This was not my order - I traded mine for this since I didn't like mine and the person that ate with me didn't like his. We both were really satisfied after the trade.