I've talked a lot about restaurants on these paperless pages, notably what I consider to be some of the best tables in Tel Aviv, but to be frank I've not paid too much attention to those twin pillars of Israeli street food, falafel and hummus. Falafel is very openly not a personal favorite, and the hummus I find is usually ho-hum.
Sometimes, for the best hummus, you have to go to little out of the way spots, of which there are more in Jaffa than Tel Aviv. And sometimes, you have to haul your lazy urban tukas up Highway 65 to the Ein Ibrahim junction, near Umm el Fahm, unlikely location of the fantastic Arabic restaurant El Babur.
Power chef Husam Abbas is one of the chief figures of the Slow Food movement in Israel, and from the mustard seed and spinach leaves to zataar and goat cheese and pomegranates (squeezed into divine nectar that puts POM Wonderful to shame) everything here comes from the land around. Consider this a preliminary dispatch, but I'm calling out Husam's hummus now as a likely candidate for the world's best.
Incidentally, El Babur is packed on weekends, particularly Saturday, though getting a table midweek is much easier. If in Israel, call 04-6110691.
Photo: AG