Tel Aviv Shawarma Survey

Dear Internet,

Similar foods exist around the Mediterranean-- the Greek Gyro, the Turkish Doner Kebab, and others. I am an afficionado of all of these, as I am of most meals from the "meat on a stick" group, but my first love is the Shwarma, as eaten in Israel.

The memories of the my boyhood trips to Israel are largely memories of Shwarma -- walking with my grandfather through his working-class neighbourhood to the local shawarma counter and receiving from his hands a pita-wrapped serving of steaming meat the size of my head, complete with french fries dropping out, salad falling to the ground, and humnmus and tahina dripping over my then-delicate fingers. So it should be no surprise that immediately upon arrival in Israel about a month ago, I immediately set out in search my favorite meal, that direct descendant of the manna given by God to my people in this very place, the world-beating Israeli Sahwarma.

The very first night I was in the country I scoured the mall adjacent to my hotel for a Shawarma, and found one that was sadly disappointing at best. I came back to my room to search the Internet for better options for next time, but with little results. Disappointed but not discouraged, I started asking around the next day for Shawarma recommendations. Each person I spoke to gave me three different ones. It seems that in Israel, such knowledge is to ubiquitous to waste time in posting it to the Internet.

But for the benefit of the future traveler, and for the love of the genre, I am cataloguing here my learning. Internet, this is my gift to you. Behold... THE ULTIMATE SHAWARMA GUIDE!!!!

Notes on the procedure: I write here about only Sahwarma's that I've eaten myself. I paid for the Sahwarma's myself, and the restaurant was not aware I was assessing their performance. Sahwarma's, where possible, I ask for Schwarmas to served in "laffa", the arab flatbread which I believe is Sahwarma's ultimate incarnation. The standard toppings I ask for are salad, hummus, and hot sauce. No chips.

Abulafia
Address: Clock Tower Square, Jaffo.
Say that you had a Shawarma at Abulafia to an Israeli and they will probably try to correct you. "No! Abulafia is a bakery! Maybe you had pita with zatar from Abulafia! Or you had a Shawarma somewhere else." No amount of convincing them will make any difference. Don't bother. Go back again to this lovely eatery across the street from the famous original Abulafia bakery. The two places have the same owner, and the one uses the bread from the other, but the similarity stops there. The bakery is a roadside counter which hands over steaming bags of pita and other baked goods. The Shawarma restaurant is in atmospheric old stone building, modernized with plate glass windows and a shawarma grill in full swing. It's location close to Tel Aviv and the beach makes it popular with families on a day out together (those families that don't deny its existence, that is).

Bread: 7/10. Good, but not great, considering the Abulafia's provenance
Meat: 6/10. Nothing special
Fixings: 7/10. Great fixing's bar
Overall: 7/10

Haj Kahil
Address: Haj Kahil Square, of Tefet Road, Jaffa
For old city Shawarma, Haj Kahil is it. The main location is a spacious shawarma counter with a lovely outdoor patio area on Haj Kahil square in central Jaffa. The place also does a brisk sideline in non-Shawarma grilled meats, and even has a full English sit-down menu for tourists, but I advise you ignore it. Do as the locals do and head straight for the Shawarma counter. They have a mini-bakery in the back, seperated with a large window, where you can see a guy making fresh laffa, one at a time. The bread, as a result, is superb. Oh, and there's a new outlet of Haj Kahil in the clock tower square, at the opposite end from Abulafia. I haven't tried it, but it's probably ok. Looks a bit flash for me.

Bread: 9/10
Meat: 6/10. Nothing special
Fixings: 7/10. They had some good grilled eggplant
Overall: 8/10. The nice patio puts it over into the 8 category





Shemesh
Address: Jabotinsky Road
My co-worker, who I told about this shawarma initiative of mine, said that I am wasting my time and that there are only three decent Shawarma's in Israel. One is Shemesh (the rest are still to be reviewed). It's in Ramat Gan, and manages to be somewhat well-organized yet seedy at the same time. Teams of yellow-shirted young men work the Shawarma grill as eager diners line a seated bar around the kitchen. There are some gross looking tables inside in the back, and one fine communal plastic table parked out front. There's a grocery shop next door where I executed the brilliant move of buying a Heinekin.

This was the best Shawarma I've had so far. the bread was really good (despite no apparent on-site bakery), but it was the meat that really put this over the edge. They seemed to have marinated it in something before grilling it, which may be standard practice, but here the flavor just leapt out. They're also well known for throwing in a little delicious fat bits, which round things out nicely.

Bread: 9/10. Fantastic

Meat: 10/10. Fantastic

Fixings: 6/10. Nothing special

Overall: 9/10. The best yet.

Dabush
Address: Rabin SquareThe second and last on my tour of Israel's top shawarma (the first is Shemesh, above, the 3rd is in Haifa and I won't make it). Dabush is good, and is very popular. It enjoys a location right opposite Rabin Square in the heart of Tel Aviv and so has a line spilling out of the small shop day and night. This is a solid shawarma, but does not have the same magic meat as Shemesh nor authentic neighborhoody feel as Haj Kalil. In fact, I think this slides into 3rd place.

Bread: 9/10. Fantastic

Meat: 7/10. Good

Fixings: 7/10. Nothing special

Overall: 7/10. The best yet.

That's it for now. Check back for more updates!