Falafel Baribua, Tel-Aviv - surprise, there's hummus!

Lunch is a big part of my day.

It's an opportunity to get out of the office, stretch my legs, grab something delicious to eat, and practice my abstinence while avoiding unhealthy stuff in favor of trying to get thinner, sexier and less explosive when it comes to my liver.

Hummus is a great option, since it's one of my favorite foods, and when it's actually made fresh - it's not as bad for you. Sure, hummus, tahini and olive oil are fats, but they're the good kind, and when you eat with a fork instead of a pita - you win!

Below is today's lunch, from a place that specializes in falafel but actually serves a decent hummus.

A photo posted by אוכל בחוץ (@food_out) on Jan 4, 2016 at 7:56am PST

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

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.

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.   

Roast Beef Sandwich @ Silence

Silence is a place I visit mostly for grilled cheese panini style sandwiches. It's dirt cheap, the food is food is good (i.e. delicious and fresh) and the staff is super nice. You can't really ask for more.

They have a long transparent showcase deli style fridge with most of their ingredients.

All you really need to do is tell them what you want to eat, and construct the dish along with the person serving you. All of the dishes are basically salads or variations on sandwiches, but there are enough ingredients to keep you interested for a while within the given genres.

Also available: winter soups.

I was a bit bored with grilled cheese so I took a ciabatta with roast beef, mustard, lettuce, arugula and a bit of tahini. Along with an ice cold bottle of Fanta.

It was a good lunch, no regrets here.

That's it I guess.

Jaffa : Shipudey Zika

The following post revolves around the last two visits I've made to Shipudey Zika (shipud = skewer), located  on Jaffa's Yefet street. A small place with a welcoming staff and really great food.
The first one happened on my birthday, the second one was on a holiday, with all the streets overwhelmed with local and foreign tourists, mixed in with the occasional foodies and locals.
We were heading to some other place, but on the way we decided to change our route, Zoe said she was craving and all the everyone else were easily convinced.

Guess which is lamb and which are beef

On my birthday we arrived at 3am. There was only one last group of diners and they were just finishing up. Our order was taken quickly, and we were served just as fast, with the speed reserved for people closing up and dying to get home.
Nevertheless, the service was gracious, kind and very professional. At 3am that's quite an achievement. 

A great opener

Zika offer great VFM (value for money) ratio. As soon as you sit down your table is loaded with freebies. Wonderful hummus, hand sliced fries, a variety of salads, fresh soft pitas, falafel and deep-fried cauliflower if it's in the season.

The deal goes like this: all of the above is free, as long as you order something from the meat menu. One-three people usually get one round for free. If you're four you'll get two plates of fries and two bowls of hummus, and so on and so forth. Refills are pretty cheap.

If you're not planning to buy a main course - fear not, the prices are still pretty low. Wait, that's not all! The meat is not that expensive either! We usually go for beef, lamb and chicken skewers, but if you wanna go mad there are also internal organs: hearts, kidneys, tonsils and there's even udder.

Hummus, pitas, salads, salsa, the good life

Thinking of Zika makes me hungry, so does looking at all these pics.
And it's not like I haven't eaten in a while, there's a half eaten burrito near my laptop, I'm not gonna finish it anytime soon, I'm not really hungry, but thinking back of Zika makes me drool.

The only thing better than great food is great food you don't have to pay for

Anyhow, that visit after my birthday ended real quick. We ate fast and took two cabs home. I was drunk after heavily celebrating and for a moment I woke myself up snoring.

The food just drop-kicked me, well, the food and all the booze, I mixed all sorts of crazy; arak, Feigling (fig vodka), lots of hard cider, beers and a few glasses of Baileys. 

That was sure a fun night out.

 

Golden fries

 
The other visit was something else altogether.

I wanted a Zilber roast beef sandwich so we were heading to the Jaffa Port market.

On the way we ran in to obstacles in the form of aforementioned tourists, slow-walking families, people taking bike rides on the sidewalk, all over the pavement and the boardwalk. 

There was also an international photography festival going on, so lots of hipsters with pro \ vintage cams, fashionable folks, pseudo artists with modern haircuts and just your average curious crowds, sitting all over the place, making it impossible to get around.

A taste of the good life

We swiftly changed course, Shipudey Zika wasn't far away; we were sure that Zika Hamdan's place will have a table just for us. That wasn't the case, but we got a table after about four minutes, which was pretty good for such a packed day.

The party started.

Om nom nom

The friends we came told us that it was quite a while since they last visited a place of this sort.

Perhaps it was the fact they aren't much fun and they treat food as something functional, just an action you do and then go on with your day. They said they rather save up or spend their money on trees instead of what they called "wasting".

We on the other hand tried to explain how pampering yourself with new tastes improves your mood, how the way is just as important and  filled with experiences as the eating, and that memories of fun times are surely more important than bong hits.

 

Beef on the skewer and lamb on the plate

At that point we got our food, so the conversation died and the eating began.

I recall mocking my friends in my thoughts while chewing,  and later losing my train of thought when the grilled eggplant arrived to the table.

It was amazing, look at it, it's here, below. Served with tahini, soft chickpeas, paprika, olive oil and fresh parsley.

Grilled eggplant, tahini, soft chickpeas, parsley, paprika and olive oil

It was a good day in Jaffa. We passed by a church and the bells tolled, later we heard the muezzin singing form a nearby mosque and at some point we saw people dancing with torah books (it was the Simhat Torah holiday, when people take the holy scriptures out of the synagogues and walk around the building to celebrate the end of the torah and the beginning of reading it anew).  

The wind was chilly even though it was still mid-summer, there were happy dogs, cute kids, horses, and people seemed happy.

Too bad it was the last holiday for quite a long time.

All things that are good

Zika is a place  you can always go back to. The food is great, great and  affordable, the location is comfortable, there's parking and nearby bus stops, and it's a close walk from the port which is near the beach which is kinda near everything else. You don't even notice how you get back to Tel-Aviv by food.
People are nice there, in Jaffa in general and especially at Zika, going there you can easily start thinking of peace and coexistence, after all it's easier to like people when they make awesome food. 

Food Porn: The Little Things

Can't quite recall why was it that I stopped doing compilation posts, but here's a comeback!

A digest of various meals, dishes and stories.

Descriptions below each image, just like I used to do.

Hope you like it, drop a line if you do, drop a line even if you don't, I've been getting mostly spam comments for several weeks now, it's quite disappointing to find bot generated nonsense each time I expect something real, don't people have opinions anymore?

Come on, ask me something, it's getting lonely here!

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people from Kurdistan and with Kurd genes can't eat green fava beans cos they lack the G6PD enzyme so they can die

Just some of my home cooking.

Fresh green fava beans, cooked in crushed tomatoes, with cumin, paprika, garlic, black pepper, date syrup and mustard seeds.

The rice has some garam masala in it, and sumac too. And also some mustard seeds, I was adding them to everything that evening. It was delicious.

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mushroom pizza with sriracha

I had several horrible experiences with Pizza Seret and was glad to see they returned to their marvelous norm. All it took was a bite from this slice with mushrooms and a bit of sriracha, I was in pizza heaven again.

It's bad when good places turn wrong, but it's great when they relapse.

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pizza flavored bourekas with a hard-boiled egg, crushed tomatoes, pickles, tahini and a hot chilli pepper paste

Pizza bourekas with the works. I had the exact same post a while ago, but it wasn't the same bourekas.

This was after an early Halloween party this Friday, it was also a housewarming party for a couple of friends.

We walked the streets, slightly drunk, looking craving for a pizza. Mama's Bourekas was the only thing open in the immediate area. It was pretty good. 

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soft smelly cheese

Lately I've started purchasing funky cheeses. I mean moldy, smelly, pungent, soft, covered in weird colors, the kinds that make your fridge and pee smell weird.

They're delicious.

Here's me enjoying them on a walnut rye. Good times.

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eggplant and tahini ciabatta

Ciabatta, with a big chunk of eggplant baked into its top, and lovely thick tahini hiding beneath the layer of eggplant. A touch of coriander was the garnish added to it by the baker, I added some coarse salt when I got home and ate it like a madman, not stopping for a second, completely disregarding my surroundings.

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pickled cabbage

Hummus Asaf which is my favorite hummus got their pickled cabbage recipe back. Their last few batches were unlike the amazing sweet and savory cabbage strings I used to devour, but like I said, they recreated the original recipe after a few mediocre months.

It's worth a visit even if you hate hummus, just order anything, you'll get the cabbage anyhow.

Forget that, just walk in and ask for a tiny bowl to go, they're good people.

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chicken selects, McDonalds

A two image feature.

Lunch at McDonald's, indeed one of the simple joys. I don't eat burgers, prefer to avoid ground meat and generally dislike what McDonald's represent and do, but every once in a long while I eat a chicken meal.

The ultimate junk food, but still, I'm lovin' it (and feeling guilty about it).

McDonalds: fries, ketchup, BBQ sauce, sweet n sour sauce

And that's it for now.
Don't forget to write!
Also, if and when you do, please add an animal that starts with a C, just for fun.

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

Pizza Bourekas with the works

Going out for a night on the town might make you quite hungry, especially after a few drinks.

This was a wonderful solutions: Pizza flavored bourekas with a hard-boiled egg, crushed tomatoes, pickles, tahini and a hot chilli pepper paste sauce thingy (skhug), along with a cold strawberry Schweppes.

This amount might not satisfy when very hungry, but it was more than enough since I ate a slice of pizza walking towards the place. Mama's Bourekas also serve malawach, jachnoon and other types of dough with cheese and stuff. They also have pretty cheap booze, which is also great if you want to keep on drinking and the food is just another stop on a long binge.

All dishes are served with a hard-boiled egg, tahini, pickles, crushed (grated actually) tomatoes and skhug - a (very) spicy red pepper paste.

Vegetarian Lunch: just baking stuff

It's Saturday and I'm awfully hungry. That's the essence of this post. I need a snack, to stay on the healthy side (if you've followed my previous posts you'll know what I need to balance the other stuff I eat).

My solution? Baked goods: Broccoli, zucchinis, mushrooms, vegetarian hotdogs, just a drizzle of sunflower oil, some freshly ground black pepper. That's it.

I was going to make a tahini sauce and experiment with adding some ginger and coconut flakes to it, but I succumbed to my hunger - the smells just overpowered me.
I ate the veggies and dogs with a bit of mustard, sriracha and sweet chilli sauce. It was delicious.

Later I think I'm gonna try making a new variation on a lasagna, should be interesting - I'll even  keep you posted if it turns out good.

Corned beef sandwich for lunch

A bun with a baguette-like crust made the perfect bed for hot corned beef, served with tomatoes, cucumber slices, a dressing of mustard and tahini, at Rothschild Cafe.

Add some friends from work and a cold soda (carbonated water) with slices of lime, and you get a fun break in the midst of an unpleasant day.

Although in a perfect world this sandwich would offer more meat, I found it to be quite satisfying and just in the right amount to make my hunger magically disappear - yet not leaving me bloated and sleepy.

The original sandwich was supposed to have sauerkraut in it, and mayo instead of the tahini, but I made my choices. This composition seemed somewhat better, and I was right.

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: home and away

Yet another set of stuff I ate.

I know you won't enjoy this as much as I did eating, but there's some good stuff here.

A huge amount of prosciutto inside a soft bun. The prosciutto was really salty so I sweetened the whole thing by using date syrup as a sauce (and some mustard too). This creation made me tired, satisfied and really proud.

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Shawarma in a laffa (taboon bread) roll. Along the chicken shawarma there was a salad, some fries and two sauces: tahini & amba. Quite an awesome lunch.

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Grilled chicken breast with oven baked vegetables (potatoes, yams, beets, roots and some other stuff I can't recall). This was served on plain white jasmine rice.

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This deserves a post of its own. A wonderful place (called The Bun, as seared on the bun in the image) serving variations on Asian cuisine (noodles, soups, wok fried dishes, and this little gem). My favorite dish is a pair of steamed bao buns with pulled beef with sweet pickles and a tangy sweet sauce. If you ask nicely you can also get the same dish with pork belly (not on the menu).

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This is just a Persian style soup that came along with some meatballs (I'll see if I can find actual pictures of them). Pretty good dish, made by my girlfriend's aunt.