I’ve been on food tours in Barcelona, Jerusalem and New York and I truly believe it’s a great way to discover a city.

Therefore I was positively thrilled that I was able to go on a food tour of Levinsky Market with Delicious Israel.

Even though I lived in Tel Aviv for 4 years and have visited Tel Avis several times in the last 7 years, this particular neighbourhood was never on my radar.

This has now changed thanks to Delicious Israel who introduced it to me the other day.

The tour was friendly and fun and consisted of a few tourists from the UK, France and the U.S. Our tour guide was a native English speaker and was super knowledgeable and clearly passionate about food.

Not to mention that on this tour I learned a few things. For example, I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen cinnamon that looked like this before.

You see this green fruit next to the apple? Notice how its’ bigger than the apple? It’s an orange. ..not an over sized lime! How cool is that?

Plus I ate the most delicious hummus that was WARM. Once again, this was something new for me. I really did learn quite a bit on this tour.

The tour was certainly comprehensive and we were introduced to a variety of interesting spots in the Levinsky Market i.e a spice shop, bourekas, a hummus restaurant, a cool restaurant that served cured meats and craft beers, a famous bakery and more!! No one left hungry.

At the end of the tour we were given cute business cards. I swear I’m going to try my best to get thru this list by Sept 22nd. Wish me luck.

This company does more than just tours – in fact I really wanted to participate  in on their “cook and shuk” tours but the timing didn’t work out. I guess this means I will have to book this for my next trip!!

Please take a few minutes and click on their website. Not to mention that I highly suggest you book a tour on your next visit to Israel. You won’t regret it.

For more information:

Website: www.DeliciousIsrael.com

Instagram/Twitter: @DeliciousIsrael

Email: info@deliciousisrael.com

Telephone Number from ABROAD: +972 525 699 499

Telephone Number in ISRAEL: 0525 699 499

Disclosure: This tour was complimentary however all opinions are my own.

 

 

I think I found out about Aborigens by googling these three key words “food tour Barcelona” and then of course I connected with them via twitter and email. I’ve now completed several food tours (two in New York), one in Israel and one in Barcelona. Each one offered me a unique experience.

Aborigens is run by three partners and one of those partners was the tour for the evening. We met at 545 pm and I swear the tour ended at 11: 45 pm even though it was suppose to be a FOUR hour tour. Our group was so dynamic and friendly that we kept shmoozing and eating and shmoozing and drinking. The fact that Alex didn’t mind, said volumes about their service.

Here’s a photo of our lovely group: there was a mother/son visiting from NY, a couple from South Africa, a mother/daughter from outside Philadelphia, a young women from Australia and moi.

Our evening included SIX restaurants and at each restaurant we ate and DRANK. There was no shortage of food or booze. I can assure you that NO one left hungry. In fact I didn’t eat anything the next day till 330 pm.  (not even a coffee).

I took lots of photos and arranged them into a few collages to make it easier to show you exactly how much we ate and drank!! This is just a SAMPLE of what we ate. There was more but as always …I don’t want to bore you.

 And then we visited another restaurant and ate some more…..

 Plus we walked to another restaurant (that we would have never discovered on our own)

We are now getting full. ..but we manage!

What made this food tour so memorable?

-the group itself was super fun.

-our tour guide Alex was accommodating, friendly and knowledgeable. He let the group have fun and we did!!

-the restaurants that were selected were NOT touristy at ALL. Very local. Very Authentic.

-I could have never done this by myself. Its a great way to try a lot of restaurants in a short period of time.

For more information:

Aborigens Food Tours  – please check out their website for further information about their tours and other services they offer to chefs or visiting food industry professionals.

Twitter: @aborigensBCN

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aborigensBCN

The list of restaurants we visited included: Moritz, Koska Taverna, Els Sortidors Del Parlament, Gran Bodega Elkano, Amigo Cascaries, Rosal 34. However please note that the restaurant and what was served might change from tour to tour.

 

I’ve done food tours in New York with Urban Oyster and knew that I would love to go on a food tour in Israel. Thanks to Twitter and @funjoel – my cousin and I had the opportunity to have a food tour thru Mahane Yehuda with Joel.

Please meet Joel!!

Joel is originally from the New Jersey and is now a licensed guide in Israel. He’s also a foodie and knew exactly where to take us in Mahane Yehuda, which is a popular food market in Jerusalem.

Here are the highlights.

Jachnun Bar: (30 Ha Egoz) This is a Yemenite restaurant that recently opened in the market.  I ordered a Fatut salad and would order this again in a heart beat. I loved the texture and the originality of this dish. What is Fatut? small pieces of malawach fried with egg, cheeses and toppings. Joel brilliantly described it as “kind of like matza brei”.

Halva King: (10 and 72 Ets Hayim St) These guys sell a gazillion types of halva (pure halva – not sugary, processed halva) AS WELL as a gazillion flavours of tehina. I was so impressed with how they make the tehina (see the photo) – that I purchased a container of tehnina to take home!! This is indeed AUTHENTIC tehina.

Manou Bashouk. At this restaurant we enjoyed a sliver of some meat pie. I say a “sliver” cause we were so full from lunch!!

Oozi Eli: At this store, we were introduced to some interesting combination of natural juices. i.e Gat juice, Almonds and Dates, Lemon Mint and Etrog, Passion Fruit and Goats Milk and more. We even shmeered some lotion on our necks in the hopes that we stay young and youthful forever!!

We even visited a family member of the Dr. Laffa owners. What a small world!

My cousin has lived here for 4 years and said (early on in the tour) “I would have never found these places”. Clearly Joel was instrumental to our  tour thru Mahane Yehuda. It would not have been the same visit without him.

I am also eager to connect Joel with many of my foodie friends and other friends who visit Jerusalem on a regular basis. Fun tour guides are hard to find and Joel was definitely fun and knowledgeable. Once again, I’m thankful to twitter!!

Our night ended at a restaurant that was suggested to me by three separate Toronto foodies (@rosieschwartz, @abeworno and @foodie411). Once again, my twitter friends guided me to the most amazing restaurant in Jerusalem called MachaneYuda (10 Beit Ya’akov St) The menu changes daily so I’m not going to list exactly what I ate as there is a good chance that it wont be on the menu the next time!!  What I can tell you is that the flavours, execution, presentation, service and atmosphere will be flawless!!

There is a reason why this is one of the top restaurants in the country!

Sadly my trip to Israel has ended.  I’m really really sad about leaving but know that I will be saving my loonies for another trip soon!   However my  vacation continues and the next blog post will be about my food adventures in Barcelona! Stay tuned.

For more information:

Joel can be found on twitter (@funjoel) or on facebook and has a great website too.