Cologne
Guided tour · 2 hours
Cologne: Brewery Tour with 3 Kölsch Beer Tastings
Experience Cologne's famous brewing culture and old town on this popular brewery tour. Immerse yourself in the exciting, humorous, and bizarre...
from€28Check dates
Israeli cuisine is one of the youngest national kitchens in the world, codified largely after 1948 and rewritten again by a Tel Aviv generation of chefs working from roughly the year 2000 onward. Its foundation is Levantine: hummus, falafel, shakshuka, sabich, the mezze grammar shared with Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine. Layered on top is the cooking of the Jewish diaspora that gathered into Israel after the founding of the state: Yemenite jachnun and malawach, Iraqi kubbeh soup, Moroccan tagines, Persian gondi, Tunisian brik, Ethiopian injera, and the Ashkenazi cooking of central and eastern Europe.
What makes the cuisine distinct rather than simply derivative is the way Tel Aviv's contemporary food culture has fused these elements with the produce of the Mediterranean climate and a generation of chefs trained in European and Asian techniques. The result is a kitchen that takes a Yemenite spice blend and a Persian rice technique and a Palestinian-Levantine vegetable preparation and serves them on the same menu without apology. Eyal Shani, Yotam Ottolenghi, and Meir Adoni are the names that traveled internationally; on the ground in Tel Aviv there are hundreds of cooks doing equally serious work.
The political weight on this cuisine is real and contested. Many Israeli signature dishes (hummus, falafel, shakshuka, sabich) are shared with neighboring Arab traditions, and the question of attribution is unresolved. The honest answer is that the modern Israeli table draws from Levantine, Jewish diasporic, and contemporary Mediterranean sources, and identifies as Israeli in framing rather than in origin.
Book a food experience
Tours, tastings and classes from the cities on this page, bookable on GetYourGuide.
Budapest
Guided tour · 2h 30m
Budapest Food Walking Tour: Eat, Sip & Explore Like a Local
Taste your way through Budapest with a foodie guide and learn about the history of Hungarian cuisine. Try Budapest’s street food, traditional dishes,...
from$79Check dates
Vienna
20 minutes
Vienna: Gerstner KuK Hofzuckerbäcker Baking Show & Tasting
Dive into an authentic baking show at the Gerstner K. u. K. Hofzuckerbäcker court bakeshop and confectionery. Experience the art of Viennese apple...
from€20Check dates
Kyoto
Guided tour · 3 hours
Kyoto: Insider Sake Brewery Tour with Sake and Food Pairing
An expert-guided sake tasting and brewery tour in Kyoto. Your Japan trip gets better once you truly enjoy sake. In 3 hours, taste, visit a local...
from¥14,000Check dates
Top picks
The best-scored israeli place in each of 12 cities.
Zahav ★ 4.9
Zahav in Philadelphia is Michael Solomonov's modern Israeli room near Society Hill, James Beard's Outstanding Restaurant in America in 2019 and one.
OrderThe lamb shoulder for two with the hummus tehina, the way it has been ordered since 2008.
TipBook 30 days out on Resy at 10am Eastern. The Mesibah feast lands at the family table.
Yoramu Aged Sake Bar ★ 4.6
Yoram Ofer's koshu sake bar in a Nakagyo machiya in Kyoto. Six-seat counter, aged-sake flights, no walk-ins, the city's reference koshu room.
Why locals goAn Israeli-born owner runs the country's most-cited aged-sake bar from a six-seat machiya. No sign, no English menu, no walk-ins.
TipOpen Wed-Sat only. Call 15 minutes ahead from the corner phone box.
Butcher and Bee ★ 4.6
Bryan Weaver's East Nashville outpost of the Charleston-born Mediterranean room on Main Street in Nashville. Vegetable-forward Israeli food by Chris DeJesus.
OrderThe whipped feta with fermented honey and whichever mezze the kitchen is running.
TipReservations on Resy for the dining room; the bar takes walk-ins early.
Neni am Naschmarkt ★ 4.6
Neni am Naschmarkt at Stand 510 on Vienna's Naschmarkt has been Haya Molcho's flagship since 2009, cooking Israeli and Levantine plates upstairs.
OrderSabich, fried aubergine with egg and hummus; weekend brunch leans on shakshuka.
TipOpen Monday to Saturday from breakfast; Sundays the Naschmarkt stalls close but the cafe stays open until 21:00.
Dok ★ 4.5
Dok is brothers Asaf and Yotam Doktor's eight seat counter in Tel Aviv, an all Israeli locavore menu that changes most nights with what the farms deliver.
OrderThe beef tartare with mayonnaise or the wild snapper, whichever the counter is serving that night.
TipOnly two small tables and eight counter seats; book well ahead for a weeknight slot.
Saba ★ 4.5
Saba in New Orleans is Alon Shaya's 2018 Magazine Street follow-up to Shaya, a modern Israeli room at Nashville Avenue with the whipped feta and whole.
OrderThe whole roasted cauliflower with whipped feta. Then the lamb ragu hummus.
TipBrunch on Sundays runs the shakshuka and matzo ball brioche French toast; book a fortnight ahead.
Hummus and Friends ★ 4.4
Hummus and Friends on Berlin's Oranienburger Strasse runs a fully kosher vegetarian Israeli kitchen with hummus, falafel and sabich; the room seats 50.
OrderThe hummus plate with extra olive oil and warm pita; the falafel sabich with egg.
TipKosher-certified, closed Friday evening to Saturday evening. Lunch from 11:00 is the easier seating.
Eli's Jerusalem Grill ★ 4.4
Eli's Jerusalem Grill on Highway 280 east of the city runs an authentic Israeli kitchen with a vegetarian-vegan plate of falafel, hummus and baba ghanoush.
SignatureFalafel plate, Vegetarian plate, Lentil soup
Mazel Tov ★ 4.4
Mazel Tov on Akacfa keeps its Mediterranean and Israeli kitchen running until midnight every day, a Jewish Quarter late-night dinner room with live klezmer.
OrderThe mezze plate and a glass of Israeli sauvignon blanc after the ruin-bar crawl.
TipOpen noon to midnight daily; the glass-roof courtyard fills first.
Hamsa Hummus and Happiness ★ 4.4
Hamsa in Kraków's Jewish quarter cooks Tel Aviv-style Israeli: hummus, shakshuka, sabich, fresh pita off the saj. Located in Kazimierz. Priced at $$.
OrderHummus with slow-cooked lamb and fresh pita; arrive before the dinner queue at 19:30.
TipBook the terrace for sunset. The same group runs Hamsa Tel Aviv next door for a fuller dinner menu.
Banzo ★ 4.4
Banzo on Sherman Avenue, the falafel cart turned brick-and-mortar Israeli kitchen, runs fresh falafel sandwiches, hummus bowls and shakshuka brunch.
TryFalafel sandwich and shakshuka brunch
Shukette ★ 4.4
Ayesha Nurdjaja's Israeli-Mediterranean room on Ninth Avenue runs hearth-baked saluf in Chelsea, New York City. Order the saluf with house labneh and zhoug.
OrderSaluf with house labneh and zhoug.
TipWeekend brunch runs the saluf with eggs. Walk-ins at the counter from 17:30 every weekday.
Find a place
Zahav ★ 4.9
Zahav in Philadelphia is Michael Solomonov's modern Israeli room near Society Hill, James Beard's Outstanding Restaurant in America in 2019 and one.
OrderThe lamb shoulder for two with the hummus tehina, the way it has been ordered since 2008.
TipBook 30 days out on Resy at 10am Eastern. The Mesibah feast lands at the family table.
Laser Wolf ★ 4.7
Laser Wolf in Philadelphia is Michael Solomonov and Steve Cook's Israeli skewer-grill at Howard and Master in Olde Kensington, the casual sibling to Zahav.
OrderThe mixed grill plate with beef shipudim and lamb merguez; the salatim spread to start.
TipWalk in at the bar before 18:00 on a weeknight. Reservations stretch out 2 weeks on the Resy calendar.
Yoramu Aged Sake Bar ★ 4.6
Yoram Ofer's koshu sake bar in a Nakagyo machiya in Kyoto. Six-seat counter, aged-sake flights, no walk-ins, the city's reference koshu room.
Why locals goAn Israeli-born owner runs the country's most-cited aged-sake bar from a six-seat machiya. No sign, no English menu, no walk-ins.
TipOpen Wed-Sat only. Call 15 minutes ahead from the corner phone box.
Butcher and Bee ★ 4.6
Bryan Weaver's East Nashville outpost of the Charleston-born Mediterranean room on Main Street in Nashville. Vegetable-forward Israeli food by Chris DeJesus.
OrderThe whipped feta with fermented honey and whichever mezze the kitchen is running.
TipReservations on Resy for the dining room; the bar takes walk-ins early.
Neni am Naschmarkt ★ 4.6
Neni am Naschmarkt at Stand 510 on Vienna's Naschmarkt has been Haya Molcho's flagship since 2009, cooking Israeli and Levantine plates upstairs.
OrderSabich, fried aubergine with egg and hummus; weekend brunch leans on shakshuka.
TipOpen Monday to Saturday from breakfast; Sundays the Naschmarkt stalls close but the cafe stays open until 21:00.
Dok ★ 4.5
Dok is brothers Asaf and Yotam Doktor's eight seat counter in Tel Aviv, an all Israeli locavore menu that changes most nights with what the farms deliver.
OrderThe beef tartare with mayonnaise or the wild snapper, whichever the counter is serving that night.
TipOnly two small tables and eight counter seats; book well ahead for a weeknight slot.
HaSalon ★ 4.5
HaSalon is Eyal Shani's Wednesday and Thursday only dining room off Ma'avar Yabok, a daily-changing menu run from his own farm and local fishermen.
TipOpen only two nights a week; reservations are the only way in and go fast.
K'Far ★ 4.5
K'Far in Philadelphia is Michael Solomonov and Steve Cook's all-day Israeli bakery and cafe at 19th near Rittenhouse, the morning room before the Zahav night.
OrderA bourekas filled with feta and za'atar; shakshuka at brunch; the babka to take home.
TipWalk in for the bakery counter at 08:00 before the work crowd lands at 09:30. The pastries sell out by 11.
Saba ★ 4.5
Saba in New Orleans is Alon Shaya's 2018 Magazine Street follow-up to Shaya, a modern Israeli room at Nashville Avenue with the whipped feta and whole.
OrderThe whole roasted cauliflower with whipped feta. Then the lamb ragu hummus.
TipBrunch on Sundays runs the shakshuka and matzo ball brioche French toast; book a fortnight ahead.
North Abraxas ★ 4.4
North Abraxas on Lilienblum is Eyal Shani's small restaurant and bar, a seasonal menu cooked in an open kitchen that diners watch from the bar seats.
TipThe small bar overlooks the open kitchen; ask for a seat there if you want to watch the cooks work.
Hummus and Friends ★ 4.4
Hummus and Friends on Berlin's Oranienburger Strasse runs a fully kosher vegetarian Israeli kitchen with hummus, falafel and sabich; the room seats 50.
OrderThe hummus plate with extra olive oil and warm pita; the falafel sabich with egg.
TipKosher-certified, closed Friday evening to Saturday evening. Lunch from 11:00 is the easier seating.
Eli's Jerusalem Grill ★ 4.4
Eli's Jerusalem Grill on Highway 280 east of the city runs an authentic Israeli kitchen with a vegetarian-vegan plate of falafel, hummus and baba ghanoush.
SignatureFalafel plate, Vegetarian plate, Lentil soup
Mazel Tov ★ 4.4
Mazel Tov on Akacfa keeps its Mediterranean and Israeli kitchen running until midnight every day, a Jewish Quarter late-night dinner room with live klezmer.
OrderThe mezze plate and a glass of Israeli sauvignon blanc after the ruin-bar crawl.
TipOpen noon to midnight daily; the glass-roof courtyard fills first.
Hamsa Hummus and Happiness ★ 4.4
Hamsa in Kraków's Jewish quarter cooks Tel Aviv-style Israeli: hummus, shakshuka, sabich, fresh pita off the saj. Located in Kazimierz. Priced at $$.
OrderHummus with slow-cooked lamb and fresh pita; arrive before the dinner queue at 19:30.
TipBook the terrace for sunset. The same group runs Hamsa Tel Aviv next door for a fuller dinner menu.
Banzo ★ 4.4
Banzo on Sherman Avenue, the falafel cart turned brick-and-mortar Israeli kitchen, runs fresh falafel sandwiches, hummus bowls and shakshuka brunch.
TryFalafel sandwich and shakshuka brunch
Shukette ★ 4.4
Ayesha Nurdjaja's Israeli-Mediterranean room on Ninth Avenue runs hearth-baked saluf in Chelsea, New York City. Order the saluf with house labneh and zhoug.
OrderSaluf with house labneh and zhoug.
TipWeekend brunch runs the saluf with eggs. Walk-ins at the counter from 17:30 every weekday.
Yafo Kitchen ★ 4.3
Yafo Kitchen on Central Avenue is Charlotte's Israeli-Mediterranean counter, with house-made falafel, shawarma and laffa bread baked in Plaza Midwood.
OrderA falafel pita with all the toppings and a side of hummus with warm laffa.
TipCounter-order, sit anywhere. Two more Yafo locations on Gov Morrison and East Boulevard.
Mam's Best Food ★ 4.3
Mam's Best Food is the Florida Keys' one kosher kitchen, an Israeli tented counter on Petronia Street under Florida Keys Kosher supervision.
Why locals goAn Israeli grandmother's tented falafel counter on Petronia Street, known mostly to kosher travellers and Bahama Village neighbours.
TipIt closes for Shabbat every Saturday and queues build in Jewish holiday weeks; the falafel and shawarma are made to order.
Shaya ★ 4.3
Shaya in New Orleans is the Magazine Street modern Israeli room that won James Beard Best New Restaurant in 2016, now under BRG Hospitality.
OrderThe wood-fired pita with hummus. Then the lamb shawarma.
TipFounder Alon Shaya now runs Saba up the road at 5757 Magazine; both rooms are worth a visit.
NENI Cologne ★ 4.0
NENI Cologne in the 25hours Hotel serves Middle Eastern-inspired sharing plates above the city; Michelin-selected for its accessible elevated dining format.
OrderThe three-part hummus platter with toppings, and the shakshuka
Book1 week ahead
TipBook a table on the terrace for Cathedral views; evening light makes this one of the more photogenic dining rooms in the city.
Israeli by city
Tel Aviv9 places
Dok, HaSalon
Philadelphia6 places
Zahav, Laser Wolf
Charlotte2 places
Yafo Kitchen
Key West2 places
Mam's Best Food
New Orleans2 places
Saba, Shaya
Berlin1 place
Hummus and Friends
Birmingham1 place
Eli's Jerusalem Grill
Budapest1 place
Mazel Tov
Cologne1 place
NENI Cologne
Kraków1 place
Hamsa Hummus and Happiness
Kyoto1 place
Yoramu Aged Sake Bar
Madison1 place
Banzo
Nashville1 place
Butcher and Bee
New York City1 place
Shukette
Vienna1 place
Neni am Naschmarkt
Regional variations
Tel Aviv
The center of the modern Israeli food scene. Casual fine dining, vegetable-forward menus, serious natural wine programs, and the Carmel and Levinsky markets feeding the restaurant scene. The closest Israel gets to a Barcelona-style food capital.
Jerusalem
Older, more religious, more traditional. Machane Yehuda market is the anchor. Jerusalem mixed grill (meorav yerushalmi), Iraqi-Jewish cooking, and the layered kitchens of the Old City quarters define the local food.
Galilee and the North
Druze and Palestinian-Israeli villages with strong traditional kitchens. Olive oil, foraged greens, fresh cheese (labneh, tzfatit), wood-oven bread. Some of the most uncompromising Levantine cooking in the country lives here.
Yemenite and Mizrahi neighborhoods
Specific Tel Aviv neighborhoods (Kerem HaTeimanim) and Jerusalem markets preserve the Yemenite Jewish tradition: jachnun, malawach, kubaneh, hilbeh (fenugreek), schug (the green chile sauce that became universal in Israel).
Defining israeli dishes
- Hummus
- Served warm, fresh, with chickpeas left whole on top, often with ful (fava beans), msabaha (whole-chickpea version), or meat. Pita and raw onion on the side. The Israeli hummusiya is its own institution.
- Falafel
- Deep-fried chickpea (or chickpea-fava) fritters in pita with tahini, salad, pickles, and amba (the Iraqi mango pickle that became Israeli). Street food, eaten standing.
- Sabich
- Iraqi-Jewish breakfast in pita: fried eggplant, hard-boiled egg, hummus, tahini, amba, Israeli salad, schug. Possibly the best sandwich in the country.
- Shakshuka
- Eggs poached in spiced tomato-pepper sauce, served in the pan with bread for dipping. North African Jewish origin, naturalized as Israeli breakfast and dinner.
- Jerusalem mixed grill (meorav yerushalmi)
- Chicken hearts, liver, and spleen with lamb, grilled with onion, cumin, and garlic, served in pita. The Jerusalem street-food signature.
- Malawach
- Yemenite layered laminated flatbread, pan-fried to crisp and flaky, served with grated tomato, hard-boiled egg, and schug.
- Jachnun
- Slow-baked Yemenite dough roll, cooked overnight, served Saturday morning with grated tomato, egg, and schug.
- Kubbeh soup
- Iraqi-Jewish bulgur dumplings stuffed with spiced meat, served in clear broth (beet, lemon-celery, or pumpkin). A Jerusalem signature.
- Roasted cauliflower
- Whole-head roasted cauliflower with tahini and herbs, popularized by Eyal Shani at Miznon and now on menus across the country and abroad.
- Bourekas
- Phyllo or puff-pastry triangles filled with cheese, potato, spinach, or mushroom. Sephardic-Bulgarian heritage; the Israeli breakfast-on-the-go.
- Israeli salad
- Finely diced cucumber, tomato, onion, parsley, olive oil, lemon. Served at almost every meal of the day. The Palestinian-Levantine ancestor is fattoush without the bread.
- Knafeh
- Cheese pastry soaked in rose syrup, shared across the Levant and an Israeli favorite. Akko and Nablus are the regional centers.
How to order
A hummusiya meal is straightforward: order hummus (with ful, with msabaha, with meat, or plain), get warm pita, a plate of pickles and raw onion, and Turkish coffee. That is the entire menu and it is the whole meal. At a Tel Aviv contemporary restaurant, the format is mezze-led with a chef's menu option. Order four to six small plates for two people, then one or two larger sharing plates, and a dessert. Wine programs are increasingly natural and Israeli-led.
The rookie mistakes: skipping the hummusiya in favor of a 'nicer' restaurant (the hummus is the meal, and the best ones are unpretentious neighborhood spots), ordering hummus as a side rather than the main, asking for cold hummus (it is served warm or room-temperature, never refrigerated), and missing breakfast (the Israeli breakfast spread of shakshuka, salads, cheeses, breads is genuinely one of the meals of the day worth structuring travel around).
What to drink with it
Israeli wine has matured rapidly, with serious work from the Galilee, Judean Hills, and the Negev. With grilled meats and rich stews, a Mediterranean red blend or a Cabernet from the Golan Heights. With mezze, a crisp white or rose, increasingly from boutique producers like Recanati, Domaine du Castel, and Sphera. Arak with water and ice for the traditional table. Israeli craft beer has caught up to the European mid-tier. Limonana (mint lemonade) is the universal non-alcoholic pairing in summer.
Where to eat it
Tel Aviv is the unquestioned center. Miznon, Port Said, OCD, HaSalon, M25, and the Levinsky and Carmel market stalls cover the range from casual to ambitious. Jerusalem for traditional, Iraqi-Jewish, and Palestinian-Israeli cooking, especially around Machane Yehuda. Haifa for Druze and mixed Palestinian-Israeli kitchens. Outside Israel, New York, London, and Berlin have strong Israeli scenes led by chefs trained in Tel Aviv (Miznon expanded to both cities, plus Yotam Ottolenghi's London restaurants).
A short history
Modern Israeli cuisine is largely a post-1948 construction, formed by the immigration of Jewish communities from across Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and Ethiopia, mixed with the existing Palestinian-Levantine food culture of the land. The Tel Aviv food scene of the 2000s and 2010s, led by chefs like Eyal Shani, Yotam Ottolenghi, and Meir Adoni, reframed Israeli cuisine as a contemporary Mediterranean kitchen rather than a diasporic patchwork.
Frequently asked
Is Israeli food the same as Palestinian or Lebanese food?
Many signature dishes (hummus, falafel, tabbouleh, shakshuka) are shared with neighboring Arab kitchens, and the attribution is contested. What is distinctively Israeli is the fusion with Jewish diasporic traditions (Yemenite, Iraqi, Moroccan, Ethiopian, Ashkenazi) and the contemporary Tel Aviv scene's reinterpretation of all of them.
Is Israeli cuisine kosher?
Some restaurants are kosher-certified, especially in Jerusalem and religious neighborhoods; many in Tel Aviv are not. Mainstream Israeli food is broadly kosher-compatible (separating meat and dairy is common practice) but the secular Tel Aviv scene mixes freely.
What is amba?
A tart, pickled green mango condiment that Iraqi Jews brought to Israel and that has become one of the country's most identifiable flavors. It goes on sabich, falafel, shawarma, and almost anything that needs an acidic, funky punch.
More cities are in research. Want israeli covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.