Most talked-about hummus in Jaffa (and Israel)

While hummus, like most foods is a subjective matter, one of the most debated, appreciated, talked-about and recommended places for hummus is Abu-Hasan.

While other dishes tend to be easier to classify, hummus, being basically a mushy paste with toppings is a tad harder to pinpoint. Thus, there are several go-to hummus masters, venues and genres used to ease the definition of what you are eating.

Abu-Hassan is one of them, if not the main one.

This specific location is so popular that the owners opened another branch right across the street and they are both packed at all opening hours (although they start early).

They close the doors as soon as the hummus ends (rather than making new batches) which usually occurs in the early afternoon; you'll be lucky to visit around 15:00 and find any food left.

While hummus enthusiasts might pick other (obscure) places as their all time favorites, this hummus is a touchstone frequently name-dropped in every hummus discussion.

It's also hailed by most as the best hummus ever, the best msabbaha ever, and other titles of grandeur.

I had the pleasure of eating an early morning plate of hummus with fava beans, whole chickpeas and msabbaha (hot hummus mixed with tahini) just several day ago.

The food arrived to our table within a minute, and was delicious to say the least.

It's even better than it looks

The food is great, they always deliver, within moments of your order and the prices are on the lower side of the hummus pricing scale.

There's aren't many options - this is a place you go to for hummus, with an addition of falafel and fries, but that's it. They're good at what they do and there's no need for new ventures.

The place is a must whether you're a tourist or just looking to grab a plate of good hummus.

It might not be your personal best as hummus styles vary, but you owe it yourself to try them at least once, and if you do ask for the triple dish (as seen in the picture) - to get a taste of several styles of hummus. 

Bottom line:

Location: clean, well lit, nicely designed, but quite loud - there's plenty of shouting from the staff, it's a thing

Staff: courteous and helpful, great and fast service

Pricing: relatively low

Food: some say it's the best hummus in the universe

Verdict: worth coming back to, again and again

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!

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.

Yesterday's lunch and dinner: noodles \ salad

Yesterday was just another day, work, shopping for groceries, a short stroll outside to stretch and get some air but mostly to feed the neighborhood cats. Then a shower and lots of TV. Just another day.

But that ordinary day produced two great photographs and a story to tell.

An annoyed delivery person brought me my noodles.

Wide, whole wheat egg noodles, pork, chicken, smoked bacon, bok choy, broccoli, green string beans, cashew nuts and peanuts, stir fried. Oh, and there were thin slices of fresh red chili peppers too.

I ordered it from Giraffe, hoping their streak of good food will go on forever. This time was a bit worse, some of the port was chewy and she noodles were a bit dry - which might resulted from a very long trip on the delivery scooter.

After shopping for fresh vegetables you kinda have to use them otherwise they're not fresh, so I made a quick salad for dinner, along with vegetarian cocktail wieners, but they're not the main story here.

The salad ingredients were: various sprouted lentils, radish sprouts, mushrooms, thin zucchini slices, chestnuts, soft young goat cheese, aged and ripe goat cheese, balsamic vinegar, cranberry juice concentrate, olive oil, black and white mustard seeds, coarse sea salt and freshly ground pepper.

We ate it with fresh rolls, and it was so amazing that I can't even describe it with words.

That's it.

Hummus Porn

Following some appreciation from r/foodporn I've decided to gather some of my latest hummus photos, the ones I didn't post here yet, knowing that they'll be well enjoyed. 

Here you go:

Ronnie Ful: Hummus with an egg, and a msabbaha

Hummus Sayid: "Meshuleshet", hummus, tahini, msabbaha, fava beans, chickpeas

Hummus Assaf: Soft chickpeas and tahini

Bethlehem Hummusm, Tel-Aviv

Another meshuleshet by Sayid's Tel-Avivian branch

Another one by Assaf

Nadim's Hummus

Danny Ful, Jaffa

Hummus Sayid are back!

After a many doubts and a very long hiatus, Hummus Sayid is now open again!

I promise I'll do a more informative post soon, with a full coverage and some more pictures, but for now here are two photos I took today:

Hummus, cooked chickpeas, olive oil, a hard boiled egg and touch of tahini and parsley

Hummus, ful (fava beans), tahini and msabbaha, with parsley and spicy lemon sauce on top

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.

Food porn: cow and chiken

This time it's mostly about the meats and one special hummus.

A place near my work mistakenly made me this sandwich - I wanted roast beef and was handed a chicken breast instead. I only noticed the error once I was back at the office but it was actually in my favor as the chicken breast was exquisite. It was incredibly moist and really flavorful. 

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This is from one of my favorite places in the entire world. A tiny Indian place called Salam Bombay. It's run by a couple that also does the cooking and the serving and their hands just work magic. There's no menu and you can just choose from whatever dishes they prepared for the day. The place is open for 4-5 a day and is closed on weekends.

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This is a great sandwich with a sad story. My greenfield and I went to a hummus place in our area just to discover that it was closed for good. On our way back we bought fresh baked French country bread and wonderful slices of beef shoulder pastrami. 

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This is from a place called Abu Adham. Their hummus is made in the northern Galilee tradition which means its light and has lots of tahini in it, it's sweeter and it is served with tons of olive oil. According to the northern hospitality tradition they also offer unlimited free refills and a cup of hot spiced coffee after you can't have anymore hummus.

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Domino's with mushrooms and hot pastrami. It was divine.