The Culinary Secrets of Nazareth
The northern and special city attracts Avi Efrati as if by magic.
After visiting it again and again and tasting it every corner, he embarks on a special project and reveals some of the culinary secrets that Nazareth has to offer
Avi Efrati
23/06/2016
Thursday, 23 June 2016, 07:22
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Zaid Spadi Spice Store (Photo: Dror Einav)
Nazareth is a pearl, no less.
Just an hour's drive from Tel Aviv, you will get a change of almost foreign atmosphere. Pleasant and friendly there, and as befits an urban center that also has roots in history and thick tradition, also very tasty there. Quite a few experiences. Even its part can not be enough at once. Personal recommendation: go up there for more than a day. A night in one of the small guest houses in the Old City or in a more institutionalized hotel, with an evening out and a lazy morning stroll the next day, is one of the coolest experiences Israel provides , To a tourist from abroad or to the local one.
More on the same topic
The tourist guide: where to eat in Tel Aviv?
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Abu Ghanem: We came because of the chickpeas, we stayed because of the shawarma
The main streets of Nazareth - Tawfiq Ziad and Paul VI, are probably the most crowded in the Middle East (or at least in Israel) in terms of chickpeas and shawarma per square meter.
One of the personal favorites of the writer of these lines in the city is Abu Ghannam.
The hummus is of the lemon-sour type, a particularly opinionated sub-genre in the field, which has lovers alongside reservations.
But it's not just for chickpeas that come here.
The shawarma (lamb-veal) is especially good, there is a successful geranium salad, a great salad of green peppers and lemons and not a bad falafel.
A table for two, with large shawarma, chickpeas, falafel and some salads will cost about NIS 100-120.
Do not linger here.
Refuel, eat well and move on.
Abu Ghannam, Paul VI 86 (next to Hamashbir Latzarchan)
Hummus al-Sheikh (Photo: Dror Einav)
Hummus to Sheikh
The shawarma in hummus al sheikh is made from India and not circle and lamb, but it is not bad at all (and much less fatty).
The chickpeas are really good and so is the falafel.
Two hungry people will leave NIS 100 for a shawarma-chickpea-falafel-salad meal.
If you skip the meat it is much less possible.
A nice option for a quick and quick meal in the city center.
Hummus al-Sheikh, Iksal 2, Nazareth.
Phone: 04-6567664
A visit to the Al Kahala restaurant (Photo: Dror Einav)
Al Kahala: Coffee, Iraq, cookies
Razan Zoabi is a Nazarene architect engaged in the restoration of ancient buildings in the city.
Her studio is on the floor above "El Kahala" a tiny cafe located a few steps from the Church of the Annunciation.
A few low tables and a small bar, this is the contents of the tiny bacon, which operates only during the day.
The quantities of character and atmosphere of the place are hard to put into words.
Had you come across it by chance on a tour of any city in the world, you would have been happy.
Great espresso, five or six types of handmade cookie, each one better than the last, some herbal tea blends, quality whiskey and arak, and that's it.
More than that you do not need in the afternoon of lazy wanderings in the alleys of the old city. Sit on a low chair after a tour of the church or market, let the fine, clean without ice or water, do its thing; slowly nibble a cookie or two with a double espresso, and feel in place other.
to his tent, to Bishara 23
Zaid Spadi Spice Store (Photo: Dror Einav)
Ziad Safdi Spices: Ali Baba's Cave for Foodies
A visit to Ziad Spadi is a personal must for me, on a periodic basis.
His tiny spice shop, on bustling St. Paul Street, is nothing less than Ali Baba's Cave for Foodies.
Great dry spices (I do not know a competitor to the refined hyssop there), excellent cheeses, tahini ayash, Zahar water from Tripoli, and other wonders that you will not find anywhere and the sheet is too short to describe.
Spadi is also a champion in miss and conquest.
The bloody olives here are some of the best there are and the exemplary pickled lemons will add, alongside a bit of arak, a magical touch to any chicken and fish dish.
In fact, when the last box of pickled lemons in the private fridge runs out, it's the signal for me to go up to Nazareth again.
Ziad Safdi Spices, Paul VI 101, Nazareth, 054-2542182
Legume and Spice Store Nagyib Nabulsi (Photo: Dror Einav)
Najab Nabulsi: Another spice shop, the opposite in the market
Do not hang expectations in the market of Nazareth.
It's cute but is used more on a folklore standard.
The city's food stalls are not located in it and it is far from being a foodie's paradise.
You will find a few vegetable stalls, where you can also find bloody vegetables and if you arrived at the right time also some rural women, in an eastern yeshiva, who sell excellent herbs, a completely different league from the one sold from the supermarket.
Still, it's worth it to head to the Najab Nabulsi spice shop, next to the White Mosque.
Unlike Ziad Spadi, from there the food lovers will come out kneeling under the weight of the bags, at Nabulasi mostly spices are sold, at ridiculous prices in terms of the center of the country, with a nice selection and excellent quality.
Najab Nabulsi, Nazareth Market: Ascend from the main entrance (below the Church of the Annunciation), when you reach the White Mosque, turn left to the end of the alley.
Luna Bistro, mandatory stop (Photo: courtesy of the photographers, Isam Khartbil)
Luna Bistro
To the current list of recommendations written about five years ago, and updated today, in accordance with changes in the city, we must add Luna, by Luna Zreik, who has become in almost three years of existence, one of our must-see stops on every visit to Nazareth.
The food here is unpretentious but made with great care, the mall below we forgot seconds after we settled in and the service is excellent.
Beyond the fact that this is a restaurant that serves good and worthy Arabian food in the right atmosphere, Luna is the kind of enterprise that should be welcomed.
How many Israeli Arab women do you know who lead - gastronomically and managerially - a large restaurant?
In Luna's kitchen, Christian women who believe in traditional cooking, who are not cooks by profession, work.
The touch of their hand is considerable, and that too is blessed.
For the full review of Luna
Luna Bistro, Tawfiq Ziad 53 (Big Fashion Mall), Nazareth
Sahara Palace Restaurant, Kfar Nin (Photo: Shani Brill)
Sahara Palace
Another addition to the list is the relatively new Sahara Palace, which is about a 20-minute drive from Nazareth, and is still worth adding to the list.
This was the bottom line in her review last April "So there is an old-new player, very impressive, on the upper Arab kitchen in Israel. If you are a lover, drive there especially. The food clearly justifies a trip from the center. It will be a must-see culinary stop. "
For the full review of Sahara
Palace Sahara Palace, Nin, 04-6935101
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