Street Food in Tel Aviv – 11/27/19

 Tel Aviv is a food city.  While researching possible meals I might enjoy during my visit, it immediately became clear that I would never be able to hit all the spots I’d like to.  So, on my last day in the city, I decided to try and visit as many casual food spots as possible.  The result, of course, was that my travel companion and I consumed far too much food that day.  But, I’m proud of striking so many places off the list.  And, I pretty much accomplished this feat by wandering around Tel Aviv on foot, so I don’t feel too bad about it.

 After downing an introductory amount of coffee at the hotel, we set out around 11am for the much-recommended Cafelix Roastery in Jaffa. It’s a delightfully hipster coffee shop.  There’s a plain counter, behind which you can see the whole bean roasting operation, and minimal seating.  And, on the wall is a series of cubby holes with the espresso glasses of regular customers.  Apparently, you get to keep your cup on the wall if you visit every day.  And, if the baristas haven’t seen you in a while, your cup comes down.  I ordered a double shot cappuccino, but after watching the regulars come and go, I decided that I had ordered the wrong thing.  It seems like the thing to get is a plain double espresso.  But, by that point I was caffeinated to the point of irrepressibility, so I decided it was best to leave it there.

 Next, we headed off to “breakfast” at the Abu Hassan/Ali Karwan Hummus shop, even though we got there a little before noon.  And, the restaurant was already pretty bustling.  Waiters were bringing regulars their meals with no words being exchanged.  Others were quickly placing their orders with one or two clipped words.  Trays were whizzing around the room. And, there was not a word of English anywhere.  One kind waiter, though busy, saw the look of dazed panic in our eyes, and took pity, bringing us a picture menu (probably meant for children and slow foreigners).  We’d done a bit of advanced research at least, so we knew which item to point at.  And, in about 60 seconds, we ended up with a platter of fresh pita, and the hummus/masbacha/foul combo.  Amazing!  In the US, hummus is usually a cold, sad, thick spread found in tubs in the health food case at the grocery story.  And, pita is usually a dry, stiff affair, found in bags in the shelf-stable bread section.  So, our meal at this restaurant was a real eye-opener.  The hummus was warm, fresh, and tangy, and the pita freshly baked.  It was truly fantastic.  But, this wasn’t the type of restaurant where one lingers.  Tables were meant to turn fast, so we figured out how to pay, and head out to kill time before our next food encounter.

 We killed time wandering around the Carmel market, eyeing antiques and avoiding pushy barkers.  And, eventually a socially acceptable amount of time passed, and we set off to find our next meal.  It turned out to be at a delightful café called Miznon.  This was around 1pm.  Upon entering, I initially thought the place was a vegetarian restaurant.  Because, after trying to make sense of the menu (again, we were given the laminated foreigner’s menu), everything appeared to me plant based.  I eventually found a few meat options here and there, but the best and most prominent items were all veggie.  So, that’s the route I went.  Clearly, the menu was designed to highlight their best dishes.  And, everything was so good.  The restaurant’s specialty was a whole roasted cauliflower, so I had to have one of those.  Then we got a couple pita sandwiches and swapped them back and forth.  I got the Zaatar omelet pita with sautéed zucchini, and my companion got the ratatouille pita.  I liked mine better, but like a polite person, I shared. 

 After this brunch, we were feeling a bit overindulgent, so at around 2pm we dutifully decided to walk around the city a bit.  So, we headed toward the beach.  Of course, it being November, the weather was quite cool, and a huge wind was blowing sand everywhere, so not many people were out.  This was a bit disappointing, because I’d always heard how fun the beaches in Tel Aviv are, but I guess that gives me a reason to go back sometime.  Feeling the need for a bit of reinvigoration, at 4pm we stopped for espresso, then headed off to poke around Sarona Market.  There, we sampled every flavor of halvah on offer, (and then sheepishly actually bought some, so as not to come off as complete boors).  By this point we were no longer feeling uncomfortably full, which meant it was time for our next meal.

 The next stop, at 6pm, was at Falafel Ha’kosem.  While wine tasting the day before, we had been told by more than one person that the food there was “revelatory.”  (Well, only one person used that actual word, but it was universally agreed that it was amazing).  So, in order to get a representative sample of the food at this place, we got two sandwiches, and impulse-bought their signature cocktail, an arak and pomegranate lemonade (very refreshing).  We ordered a regular falafel pita, as well as a sabich pita, which has fried eggplant, hard-boiled egg, vegetables, and sauce.  Again, I liked my sandwich best (the falafel), but gamely swapped it back and forth.  By this point in the afternoon I was nowhere near hungry, so I was really only planning on having a couple bites of each sandwich to get the general idea.  But, the pitas were so good, that somehow, they both disappeared.

 At this point, I would have gladly called it quits on the eating, but I was politely informed that I would not be allowed to do that, since it would be a while before I’d be back to visit Israel again.  So, to prepare myself for another (at this point, punishing) meal, we walked all the way back to the hotel to rest for a few hours.   Once there, I buried myself under a mountain of duvets, and shared a restorative bottle of wine in bed (Adir 2015 Chardonnay blend).  At around 10pm we wandered back out into the world for what I was firmly determined would be our last meal of the day.  And, we stumbled into Abraxas. I was told that this was a very cool bar for sexy young people, that happened to also serve really great food.  The door guardian looked at us like we were insane for asking to come in, because we obviously weren’t as youthful and lithe as the bar’s regular clientele.  But, then she looked down at her watch, and as it was clearly way too early for any of the cool kids to start showing up, she sighed, and reluctantly nodded us in. 

She was right, because the only people inside were a bunch of Belgian exchange students that clearly didn’t know what time things got started in Tel Aviv.  But, that meant there was plenty of room at the bar for us to eat.  We got beef carpaccio with tahini and country bread, garlic roasted green beans, and avocado toast.  Our charming bartender Lior, took the liberty of whipping us up some sort of cucumber-mint creation, and I think a Negroni, based on the taste.  And, at this point I was done.  As amusing as it was to watch the exchange students in their clumsy attempts to pick up girls, we couldn’t politely stay longer without ordering something else, and the idea of more food and drink was starting to sound actively unpleasant.

 So, here we bid the amazing city of Tel Aviv a fond farewell.  We left for the airport not long after this.  But, I felt like I squeezed out as much fun from my last day in the country as possible.  What I definitely learned, though, was that there’s so much more to come back for.  This trip gave me a tiny taste of all the amazing things that Israel, and Tel Aviv in particular, have to offer.  And in this short trip, I only scratched the surface.