Corned Beef Tower @ Black Bar n Burger

This post actually dates back quite a while ago, at least a year and a half, which is the time passed since I've decided to go vegetarian/vegan.

Due to the above, it'll be useless to describe prices, service and ambiance that could have easily change in said period.
The dishes mentioned below however, they did not change, not at all.

Take a look, and if you go and try this sandwich - tell me all about it.

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.

Ruben | The power of corned beef

I won't go on and on about Ruben, not since they don't deserve - because they really do; except I wrote about them before, so I'll just paste links to previous posts.

The picture below is from last week; I was drinking out with friends and when we got the munchies we realized Ruben was around the corner.

corned beef on white bread, with mustard, herb aioli, horseradish sauce, lettuce and tomato

The sandwich was amazing as always, so was the service.

Look at that pinkish, juicy meat.

LOOK AT IT.

Read more:

The Search for Tel-Aviv's Perfect Sandwich: Ruben

Corned Beef Sandwich @ Ruben

Beef & Turkey Pastrami Sandwich

Read this post in Hebrew

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!

Portobello Mushroom Sandwich w. Bacon @ Moses TLV

2am sandwich at Moses, Tel-Aviv: slightly roasted bun, arugula mayo, lettuce, tomato, grilled portobello mushrooms and a side of bacon. Also at hand - a plate of fries with BBQ and chili sauce.

Although this sandwich was supposed to be a vegetarian take on BLT (Moses call it PLT on their menu) I could not resist my urges - thus the bacon.

In light of my previous disappointments with this location and the chain in general (great dishes replaced with mediocre ones and prices being jacked) this sandwich was amazing, affordable and quite a nice companion to their late night discount on booze.

The service war horrible, but the food was great and the ambiance was generally pleasant.

The so called PLT is very much worth returning for.

Vitrina | Sausage (and Burger) Fest

Problematic eating habits a hard thing, especially for a foodie.
I have various issues, textures being just one of them. Never been a fan of ground or thinly minced meat; on top of that there's my growing dislike for meat in general.
It's not easy being me; it's also uncomfortable for my food companions.
Now, imagine what it's like when I'm invited to a place specializing in sausages.

pork and roquefort sausage in a soft bun, with fries, pickles, aioli and beet ketchup

I'm not a hater of charcuterie, but I do prefer my sausages dry, my hot dogs industrial, and I keep away from hamburgers due to the texture.
Vitrina offer over a dozen types of sausages and one sort of burger.
I ordered the pork and roquefort sausage, it was one of many interesting variations on the menu; with a side of 50/50 fries, an interesting take on your dull french fries in the form of potato and sweet potato fries, with parsley and lemon zest.
I ordered my sausage neat, it was my mortal fear of onions speaking - everyone around us were chewing tons of onions and that made me paranoid.
My order was accompanied by a ladle with an aioli of some sort and a delicious home-made beet based ketchup.
After exploring what others ate - I asked for their take on relish; just big slices of pickled cucumbers. They had the distinctive taste of a vinegar brine, and the yellowish shade suggested turmeric. They were divine.

sweet and regular potato 50/50 fries, with parsley and lemon zest

The sausage was delicious, although it was a bit hard for me to enjoy it's grainy inner texture.
The fries and pickles helped me drown my sorrow, that and the fact that the friends and I were having a great Friday afternoon, laughs in the sun included.
The missus called to say that she just finished her shift and that she's on the way to join us.
I ordered a basket of fries in the meanwhile.
Seriously, their fries are amazing.

I've been told that this hamburger is amazing

Several people at our table claimed this to be one of the best hamburgers they ever had.
I read that they use a smoked cut of beef neck as one of the ingredients; one blogger mentioned cheese being added to the mix (the hamburger in the photo above had some cheese under it).
My girlfriend didn't argue, in fact she wanted to go back for it several times since this visit, and she wasn't the only one.
Vitrina's unique and original twists on food and condiments are a winning ticket.
Another advantage was the background music - rock and metal; not everyone's cup of tea but we really enjoyed it.

Bottom line: great food, affordable pricing; even the fries, pickles and beet ketchup are well worth a visit on their own.

Donkey: Taco Quality Assurance

Lunching at trustworthy places is always fun.

Luckily - you have me to suffer so you won't have to.

This time I returned to Donkey, just to see how things are (and to munch on some tacos).

Shall we? I wanna finish this post already cos the picture is making me really hungry.

 Three pulled beef tacos, black beans, cheddar, lettuce, cilantro, hot salsa and a frosty Dr Pepper

The post is called "quality assurance" because Donkey disappointing me several times (they stopped making their coriander sauce and their amazing pineapple BBQ sauce, and the food was too soggy and bland on my last visits). This was their chance to claim back the throne.

The watery delivery persisted - the beans and pulled beef were too wet for the tacos to withstand.
The flavors were partially back. Not complete blandness, but some improvement was needed still.

A new issue arose: apparently Donkey now have lunch deals, but we weren't offered any, although later as we sat down we notices people coming in after us were.
I realized it was due to the guy taking our orders being new; but still.
Not pleasant, but I didn't make a fuss.

Bottom line: more room for improvement; be visiting again soon.

10 Sheqel Falafel | HaMasger 73, Tel Aviv

Before I start, allow me to do the math for you:

10nis (New Israeli Sheqel) are the equivalent of 2.77 US Dollars.

Mind you, $2.77 is a great price for any kind of food, especially for a falafel sandwich.

The price range in Israel shifts between 15 and 20nis, with the exception of a handful of places that are trying to brake the market with 6-10nis falafels.

That said, it doesn't matter what you pay if the falafel sucks.

This falafel didn't suck.

We came in at about 15:00; at such a point of the day a good falafel has either ran out of most things fresh, or currently having everything prepared for the second or even third time that day.

And indeed, some of the food ran out already, some of the salads too; and they were prepearing new salads and falafel as we came in, upon order.

The pita was fresh and warm, quite an achievement for three in the afternoon.

I was told that they buy from nearby bakery, so they have fresh inventory at all times.

My falafel was great, crispy and flavorful.

With fresh and pickled cabbage, tomato \ cucumber \ pepper salad, tahini and amba - it was wonderful.

The amba was a reall bouns, when it's good - it's great; Amba is a mango based condiment  it's sweet, sour, tangy, a bit spicy, not unlike chutney, but introduced to Israel by Iraqi Jews.

It's mostly found in falafel \ shawarma places.

Bottom line: I will gladly eat there again (also - very friendly service).

Vegan Adventrures: Seitan Schnitzel Sandwich

Experimenting with new foods and with my own perceptions can often be fun.

I'm not quite the adventurous type - but I have my moments.

If you add that desire for new flavors to the fact that meat started to gross me out (not all the time, but I lack the desire that I used to have for it, in general) you'll see that it's a good time for a new type of sandwich.

So, long story short: this happened:

Whole wheat bun, vegan cream cheese spread, lettuce, tomato, mustard, seitan patty - crumbed and deep-fried.

It wasn't bad, it was good even.

Since the menu read "cheese" I was expecting a sheet of cheese substitute, but it actually was cream cheese or somewhat like a more liquid cottage cheese.

The seitan is unlike your ordinary chicken schnitzel. I guess that when you add the right spices and throw in that breadcrumb batter - most things will (and do) taste good.

To me that was in some way superior to actual chicken: there are no bones, no cartilage, no blood, fat or red dots, no dark meat and so on.

There are no dead animals being eaten thus less suffering, pollution, all that jazz. Your typical reasons for veganism. 

I'm not preaching, not as long as I'm eating corned beef sandwiches and writing blog posts about it - but it's a good alternative and a good option in general, and for the equivalent of about $7US.

Not bad.

The place is called Buddha Burgers, you might want to give them a shot.

Tel-Aviv's Sandwich Bonanza | Habima Neighborhood Café

Sometimes you just feel like you've hit the jackpot.

Continuing my coverage of Habima Neighborhood Café, I tried one of their grilled cheese sandwiches.

This variation is quite simple, but extremely delicious.

Just look at it!

Two huge slices of white bread, fresh pesto with whole pine-nuts thrown in the mix,  cheese and thinly sliced tomato halves. Simplistic yet amazingly interesting to taste.

Since it's really is huge, one can order only half, for what at that point seemed like a reasonable price but now I can't recall. 

The only negative note from this visit was that they were out of carbonated water.

They have many more sandwiches to cover so I will return for them, but for this one as well as it is well worth it.

Corned Beef Heaven: Tal Bagels and a Side of Fries

This is going to be a short one.

The Missus brought me a differ in the form of this sandwich:

• Poppy seed bagel (don't argue, this is a bagel, they bake them thick and with almost no hole so stuff won't fall out).
• Spicy mustard.
• Corned beef.
• Pickles.
• Lettuce.
• Fresh cucumber slices.
• Tomato.
• Grilled eggplant.
• Deep fried eggplant slices.
• More spicy mustard.

There were fries.

That's all you need to know.

Habima Neighborhood Café

I'm not a big fan of coffee shops, nor am I a fan of hipster infested places, venues packed with people aching  to be seen or just trendy spots.

Eating is something I rather do without people staring at me and talking loudly around me.

I also dislike long queues. 

All of the above are a great reason to avoid Habima Neighborhood Café, but they have so much amazing sandwiches that I just couldn't.

The sandwiches change on a daily basis, but follow a similar line. There are "bite" sizes (cheap and still big enough), grilled cheese sandwiches with meats and vegetables, all sorts of cheeses and cuts, salads and other interesting twists.

The ingredients vary depending on availability and creativity of the staff.

I'll try to cover as much sandwiches as possible, but until then, here's a starter:

.Jambon, cheese, mustard, mayo and arugula

I took my chance with this one since I'm not a big fan of mayo, it was really worth it.

The sandwich was on the cold side (Cafe Habima have three temperature levels: fresh, cold and grilled), but still, the flavors were amazing and the temperature was just right.

The cheese was of a Swiss variety (they usually indicate what cheese is used but not this time), and the jambon was crispy and flavorful. Fresh leaves and just enough spreads to keep the sandwich moist but to not wet the sweet bun. A great experience.

A moment of honesty: I took the sandwich and ate it on a very remote bench.

Amazing sandwiches are still not a good enough reason for me to suffer while eating.

Liking this blog on Facebook could be an easy way for you to stay updated.

More to follow soon.

Corned Beef Sandwich @ Ruben

Two days ago I posted about a Ruben's sandwich that was a tad on the mediocre side. It was even more disappointing since I'm trying to consume less meat, so each meat that contains meat needs to be worth it.

Yesterday I posted about a roast beef sandwich from Science and got negative feedback from r/eatsandwiches about it looking bad and not containing enough meat.

This is today's lunch, another sandwich from Ruben, it was delicious, amazing, mouth watering, 300 grams of meat and joy + a couple of amazing gherkins.

300 grams are over 10.5 oz, it's their medium size. I used to have the 400 grams as my regular, then went down to 200 since I was trying to change my diet. This was just me being very hungry. I could hardly move after this sandwich, the long walk back to the office helped a bit.

The sandwich contains: above mentioned 300 grams of steamed corned beef, lettuce, tomato, mustard, date syrup, horseradish sauce and a special secret herbs sauce they make.

It was really good; enough to make me forget about vegan guilt and the previous sandwich I had there which was meh.

Bye bye now.

Beef & Turkey Pastrami Sandwich

I've dedicated two whole posts to Ruben's sandwiches, not to mention at least a handful of random images.

They make great sandwiches, simple yet delicious, juicy, tender, with the option to enlarge the sandwich into monstrosity with is always great.

This post is a bit special, keep that in mind.

If you're not a regular reader (or a follower on Instagram) you might not be aware that I'm trying to go low on meat consumption, maintaining mostly a vegetarian and vegan diet.

This is hard to gather from the meat stacked sandwiches, but there are other meals, some less photogenic, still delicious though.

As promised - this post is different.

I want to tell you mostly about the guilt that comes along with this change in nutrition.

Once you realize how horrible the meat industry is - it's hard to turn back to the ways of old. Sort of like waking up from the matrix.

Meat doesn't look as good once you flip that switch in your head. It looks more like dead animals.

This is why every relapse to meat needs to be worth it.

You can't just eat meat products if they're not amazing, I can't that is. If I go our and eat something dead - I need its death to have a meaning. You can't just kill a cow and a turkey for a mediocre sandwich, it makes no sense.

If you eat meat once a week or twice a month, that meat needs to be meaningful, flavorful and it seriously needs to be good enough to justify its consumption.

Now, you all now that not every meal is a party in your mouth, not every steak gives you a foodgasm and not every sandwich features the pastrami of a lifetime.

This makes things even harder.

The sandwich in the photo above was okay. I can't say it was mediocre but I also can't say that I didn't feel bad for wasting my "meat ticket" on it.

It disappointing me in a whole new way. A way that is rather new to me and as such stings even more.

This sandwich was the the unjustified death of two animals. I don't need that on my conscience.

If I'm going to eat meat every now and then - I need it to be great. I need it to be so good that I won't mind all the horrible stuff that comes with the territory of meat eating.

I wish I had some magical conclusion I could share, a notion about vegetarianism or veganism, it's just a different way of thinking, even for a borderline enthusiast such as myself.

Consciousness is unpleasant, that's what you can walk away with, that and a picture of a beef and turkey sandwich, with mustard, horseradish sauce, tomato and lettuce.

Don't be fooled by this post; it's not that easy to turn a life around, the next post is going to be about a corned beef sandwich, an amazing one, luckily.

Fleishmann's Deli

This is not the first time I mention Fleishmann's Deli although I did spell the name differently last time.

They've already opened a Foursquare account so I know how they want to be called, although I tweaked it a bit since it wasn't following some grammar basics (which is kinda arrogant of me).

Anyhow, let's keep it simple, this is a short one: Fresh Moroccan bread, chipotle sauce, BBQ sauce, yellow mustard, horseradish sauce, lettuce and lots of corned beef.

I was pleasantry surprised to discover chips and delightful pickled cabbage in my take-away bag [and a tiny chipotle sauce container].

It was a superb sandwich, as good as I remembered.

The only bad thing I can think of is that they don't have enough opening hours so it's kinda hard to get my fix.

Otherwise - epic.

Note to self: on my next visit I should check out their pulled beef sandwich, it looked pretty good.

Donkey: Tex-Mex Heaven in Tel-Aviv

At a rather young age I realized I'm missing several things that judging by my TV watching habits seemed common and reasonable. Taco Bell was one. It was hard to grasp how things some considered mundane were in fact a rare delicacy. Along with the now locally defunct KFC and Dunkin' Donuts - some brands just don't do well overseas.

But now, for this taco hungry writer the earth begins to shake.

Don't get me wrong, Israel has a handful of Mexican or rather Tex-Mex (i.e. Texas-Mexican) dining venues. In the last fifteen years there has been a notable change in how we perceive food. More cooking shows, finer materials and ingredients, fancier restaurants and a variety of new cuisines that are becoming more mainstream. The Israeli palate has evolved greatly.

If until now the "Mexican" options were places offering an American menu with a token tortilla wrap dish, or a specializing Mexican restaurant that serves only minced beef dishes along pizzas, now there's a new sheriff in town.

And now for the reason we have all gathered: Donkey.

91 Hahashmonaim St, Tel-Aviv, remember this address. That is where you'll need to go for a good burrito, taco, casadia and quesadilla, altough the latter is not officially on the menu.

Don't get me wrong, I know there are dishes that are missing from the list. This is by far not the whole dream menu I had in mind, but the fact the have pulled beef, pulled pork and even pulled chicken speaks highly i their praise; allow me to explain. mincing meat is easy, mostly machine work. Cooking minced meat is faster, thus you save both time, work (the chopping and mincing part) and one might even use cheaper cuts of meat since it can go unnoticeable.

On the other hand, slow-cooking large quality cuts and then breaking them down into individual pieces in the right size and proportion - that's an indication of effort put into food. Add great taste, interesting sauces (the cilantro is amazing even if you're not a fan), quality cheese, fresh ingredients and amazing black beans, you get the picture. 

There's even a vegetarian option in the form of sauteed peppers and onions as a meat substitute. Also to be found are salads and burrito bowls. The owners assure that crispy tacos will be added soon.

Please step towards the cash register. Right below it there's the beverage refrigerator, stacked with drinks that will make you feel as if you are really in the United States of America, there's the variety of Arizona iced teas, Dr Pepper, common sodas, exotic juices and several types of beer.

Three tacos and a can of Dr Pepper will set you back nis50 (approx. $12.5), not the cheapest of meals, but it will definitively satisfy your hunger along with thirst for innovation and Tex-Mex desires.

The only negative thing I can add to this review is that their menu lacks tortas, which is a shame since their delicious meats deserve to be placed in a heavenly sandwich.

Donkey is well worth a visit, even if you're not a fan of this sort of cuisine. It's a breath of fresh air and as for personal taste goes you might just discover they're your new favorite.

The Search for Tel-Aviv's Perfect Sandwich: Fleishman's Deli

Me and a few people from work went out for lunch today - to a quiche place I adore.

Yeah, I know, quiche, right? But that place is amazing. Was amazing actually, we discovered that it moved.

Instead of the familiar venue I found Fleishman's Deli, same location, different dimension. 

They were wise enough to place fresh, gorgeous sandwiches in the window display, I fell right into that trap.

BBQ sauce, chipotle sauce, mustard, tomato, lettuce and sliced pickles

I ordered a corned beef sandwich. 

They use fresh frena bread; frena is a Moroccan style bread, named after the frena oven in which it was traditionally made. The traditional way also includes river stones (for thermal reasons).

When compiling the sandwich I asked for: BBQ sauce, chipotle sauce, mustard, tomato, lettuce and sliced pickles.

The sandwich is served with a side of potato chips and sweet pickled cabbage.

There were sauce bottles and various dipping sauces on and behind the counter, it was like a party in my mouth.

the best corned beef sandwich I had in quite a while

I'm gonna stop here cos I'm pretty tired of writing this post, wasn't going to post anything new today but the sandwich was so amazing I just had to share.

Just let me add that they have four special gimmicks that are worth mentioning:

1. There are self serve taps with various types of soda (no brands but they were all good), you just pay for a cup and drink whatever you want. This concept is rarely used in our parts of the world due to both sides (i.e. business owners and customers) being assholes. People will drink your "free" soda all day and fill up bottle they brought from home - and on the flip-side, if you can charge for extra drinks it's considered a loss.
2. There are vases with fresh green onions all over the place, just pick 'em and eat away.
3. They use a machine that keeps the potato chips warm and fresh. The kind of machine you find in cinemas and nacho stands, but the fact that they bothered and that the chips were actually fresh is pretty new in our culinary scene. It's usually stale-ish servings or just factory sealed bags in our areas.
4. They have really cheap booze! 9nis for a shot of Stoli or Jameson is pretty decent. 

That's all, enjoy the rest of the pictures.

Also, I gotta state again that the sandwich was EPIC.

a display of steamed corned-beef sandwich awesomeness

a bowl of sweet pickled cabbage, a side of potato chips, lemon soda

warm corned beef pleasures

a tap of goldstar beer, green onions, bread and a potato chip heater

Roast Beef Bagel

Wasn't even my idea, it was the lady.

We were at a new delicatessen, it was crowded, claustrophobic even.

I went out for a breath of air, she hung in inside for a while, and later came out declaring she's craving for a roast beef sandwich. 

I'm not one to argue on such matters.

poppy seed bagel, mustard, roast beef, grilled eggplant, cucumber, tomato, lettuce

Tal Bagels, that was our destination of choice.

The place was kinda empty, but with enough people to not seem suspicious.

While our roast beef was sliced and heated and we chose our bagels. I picked poppy seed and she wanted a zaatar bagel, later switching to a light bagel.

My poppy seed bagel also featured: mustard, roast beef, grilled eggplant, fresh crunchy cucumber slices, tomato and lettuce. Heating the meat made it lose the pinkish hue, but the flavors and softness made up for that. All and all it was a sandwich justifying the fact we ran out of the hippest deli in town.

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.