A spongy, bubbled flatbread cooked on one side only like a thick crumpet, served warm with grated tomato, skhug chilli paste or honey, the Yemenite Jewish bread of a Tel Aviv Saturday morning.
Where to eat it: 1 restaurant across 1 city.
Lachuch, also spelled lahoh, originated across the Horn of Africa and Yemen, where it is still eaten daily in Somalia, Djibouti and parts of Ethiopia as well as Yemen itself, traditionally made from a naturally fermented white sorghum batter and cooked on a single side. Yemenite Jewish immigrants, who founded Tel Aviv's Kerem HaTeimanim quarter beside Carmel Market from 1906, brought lachuch with the rest of their Shabbat breads, jachnun and malawach among them, and it became one of the neighbourhood's defining street foods. Irit cooks lachuch in a small shack-like cafe beside her childhood home on the edge of Carmel Market, behind a bright blue door.
Common allergens: Gluten
Tip from the editors. Cook lachuch on one side only and keep the lid on; flipping it dries out the soft, bubbled top that makes the bread work.
Irit cooks Yemenite lachuch with a crispy egg, grated tomato and zhug in a small shack-like cafe beside her childhood home on the edge of Carmel Market.
Why locals goA small shack-like cafe beside the house where Irit grew up, behind a bright blue door on a lane off Carmel Market, with no fixed menu.
TipLook for the bright blue door on Simtat HaCarmel; hours can shift, so come mid-morning on a weekday.
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