A fanatical love for this flaky Israeli pastry leads our writer on a seriously delicious quest.
This whole trip is basically a food lover’s paradise, but this morning’s adventure was a highlight. We began the day with a tour of Levinsky Market, a glorious strip of food stalls, guided by Gil Hovav, the wildly knowledgeable and entertaining Israeli food writer and TV host, who is a friend of the bride. (He was stopped along the way by several locals who approached asking to take selfies with him.)
Through this Saturday night, Barbounia’s executive chef Amitzur Mor is cooking up a dinner menu inspired by the Mahane Yehuda shuk, in a space that’s been totally transformed.
In Israel’s food scene, Tel Aviv is king. But, Assaf Granit, the owner of the popular restaurant Machneyuda, thinks Jerusalem chefs has something to say.
We wouldn’t want President Obama to go hungry during his upcoming trip. So we asked some of Israel’s best food critics where he should go to get a taste of the Holy Land.
Although it’s become one of the city’s top tourist destinations, Jerusalem’s Mahane Yehuda shuk (market) can be an intimidating place for newcomers. Vendors yell out competing prices in loud, raspy voices. Crowded alleys run into each other, and old ladies will roll you over with their overflowing carts if you don’t look out.
One of Israel’s oldest and biggest outdoor marketplaces offers always negotiable prices on a wide variety of foods and merchandise. Fresh fruit, exotic spices, flatbread, fish, colorful souvenirs, fresh flowers, clothing and footwear — you’ll find these and more at the Carmel Market (Shuk HaCarmel) in the heart of Tel Aviv. And all prices are negotiable. The market opened in 1920 and is now the biggest, busiest bazaar in Tel Aviv. Chefs from area restaurants like to buy their raw ingredients here along with hordes of shoppers from a panoply of ethnic backgrounds. Downloads: Hi Res - www.megaupload.com/?d=LEJBMSON Streaming - www.megaupload.com/?d=6LUG0VKG Docs Intro - www.megaupload.com/?d=AJG7TRZX Script - www.megaupload.com/?d=WGFMMJ6U Please credit the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the State of Israel for any use of these videos
New visitors to Jerusalem’s Mahane Yehuda Market, or shuk, may not find it noteworthy that an upscale cocktail bar called Casino de Paris has recently popped up amidst its labyrinthine alleys. Seeing the boutiques and artisanal food products that now accompany the traditional butchers, fishmongers and produce vendors, newbies may not realize that just a decade ago, the future of Mahane Yehuda was not so bright. But this bar, along with the hundreds of young Jerusalemites that flock to it each evening, tells the story of the shuk’s revitalization.
Bodies groove to the beat of Mizrachi salsa as an old woman pushes her shopping cart past them. It’s the incongruous world of Balabasta, a festival that merges art, dance and music with Machane Yehuda, Jerusalem’s biggest outdoor market.
When most of us go to an Israeli market or shuk, we experience a colorful hustle and bustle, and plenty of shoving and shouting going on around us. Nir Avieli, on the other hand, stands among the fish mongers, vegetable sellers and spice merchants and sees a precise order in all of this chaos.