Welcome to Haifa’s Downtown bakers tour - Lunch Menu
Now that you have received the tasting card and the gift bag, we are ready to go...
Here you can read interesting stories about each place you will visit and taste along the way. The order of the stories shown corresponds to the order of the places we will visit, according to the map on the tour ticket, but this is only a recommendation order, and you can also tour independently, at your own pace in the order you choose.
Shall we begin? bon appétit!
- Breada bakery
Breada started out as a small and humble bakery, but today it’s already the most talked about bakery in the city, with three branches - on St. Ha-namal, St. El-Marine and Talpiot Market. Breada’s story begins somewhere with what is left of the mythical club "Hurva", (which became the "Kartel" club) and in the worlds of graffiti and street art.
The beginning of Breada started with Daniel, the owner, attempting to bake bread and sell it to friends and business owners in Haifa’s downtown and the surroundings. It continued as a small bread shop and over time grew into a thriving empire, becoming a touching Cinderella story of Haifa that is retold again and again!
From the best pretzel breads in the world to the incomparable mascarpone croissant, the constant line outside Breada testifies to the quality and taste that cannot be argued with. Also on the menu at Breada are handmade breads, sourdough breads made from wheat, oats, and rye alongside sweet pastries, brioches, rich challahs, focaccias, and more.
The motto of Breada is primarily... to do what you love! Baking, food, art, or music. You choose.
Although the paths of Erez Yaakobi, a Haifa radio broadcaster, and Jackie Rosen, a night owl and a respected cook, have crossed quite a bit, it was only right before Covid that they joined forces for a joint venture. Erez dreamed of opening a hummus shop, Jacky wasn’t feeling it... but he went with it. The Bulgarian was opened on the ruins of "Gadi's hummus", in Hatib - a narrow and steep alley that connects Sderot HaPalyam to Shivat Tsiyon Street.
While searching for a name for the new place, the idea came up to name it after one of the two popular chickpea varieties in the country - Hadass and Bulgarian. When the name "Bulgarian" came up, Jackie said he's half Bulgarian, and so did Erez, and that's how the name was chosen. At some point, Jackie had a conversation with Erez, saying "It's not about you, it's about me, but hummus is not going to happen", and this time Erez was the one who followed along. Erez gave Jackie complete freedom to build a menu based on the Balkan cuisine with influences from his Turkish grandmother and Ladino culture.
The motto of the place is to make soulful food and return to your roots with lots of love.
- Burekas Izmir
Burekas is hands down one of the most popular street foods in Israel, but due to the health trend that has arisen around us, many avoid eating it. Petru, who makes the burekas himself from the dough to the baking, uses pure sesame paste instead of margarine, butter or oil in the dough-making process. The pure sesame paste gives it a unique flavor, and of course makes the burekas also healthier.
You can choose between classic burekas with flaky dough and a variety of fillings, or the wonderful water burekas, which is a genius fusion of Italian lasagna and Balkan burekas. Water burekas burst into the local consciousness in recent years and spread throughout the country like wildfire, and for good reason: in water burekas (söbörek in Turkish), the leaves used to make the pastry are yufka leaves, which undergo a short boiling in boiling water. The combination of them with cheese and spinach creates a perfect dish, maing it a must try dish.
- Yan Yan
- Shula Tiberian Restaurant
The chef "Hami Paska" decided to return to Haifa after several years of living in Jaffa-Tel Aviv, where he worked in the hottest restaurants. It happened before Shavuot, when he remembered the calzones (boiled and baked cheese dumplings) that his Tiberian grandmother, Shula, would always make for him. And just like that, he decided to open a "pop-up" of home-made Tiberian food. All he had to do to complete the menu was to discover more Tiberian dishes, and so he did. After searching and researching, he found family cookbooks and realized that all the food he ate at his grandmother's during the holidays was just part of a larger story of the Tiberian cuisine.
So, what do we have on the menu? Although the menu is not large, it is very precise and most importantly - delicious. How do we know? According to the Tiberians who visited themselves, it takes them back in time. They swear it was exactly the taste they remember from home, and there is nothing better than nostalgic food, agree?
What will we taste? Falafelit! The Falafelit is a dish that, like many other things, was born due to the quarantines during COVID. Like many places, Hami also adapted to the times and started selling pita breads full of goodies to passers-by. The demand was great. lots of pitas were sold every day, and to comfort those waiting in line, he asked the cook to fry the edges of the pitas that ‘remained orphaned’ from eating, like in the old days.
The cook also had just prepared a mass of falafel mash and Hami decided to try to combine the two. Today the restaurant already buys pita bread especially for the dish, that won a place of honor on the menu. Now all that’s left, is to find what to do with all the pita squares that remain after cutting the edges of the falafel…
- Knafeh De Lux
Meet Knafeh De Lux, the little sibling of Lux restaurant. Here you will find a gourmet Knafeh (yes, this thing exists). So even though it’s the little sibling of, it is still an high-demand place, in its own way.
Lux Restaurant was opened by chef Alaa Musa in 2018, after years of working in restaurants in Israel and abroad. After a while, the desserts at Lux restaurant gained their own spotlight. There were those who came from far away, just to taste the famous Knafeh. That’s when the chef realized that the Knafeh demands a space of its own, and that's how Knafeh De Lux was born.
The Knafeh is made from an Arabic cheese called Jibneh, and a pile of high-quality and tasty pistachios is placed on top. The Knafeh is prepared for you in an open kitchen, right in front of your eyes, with Turkish music playing in the background for good vibes. Today there is also a vegan Knafeh, with halva and pistachios.
- Leggenda
Affogato (in Italian: affogato - literally: "drowned") is in the range between a dessert and a drink. But what is important to know is that it comes from the Italian cuisine. So, who drowned? A scoop of vanilla ice cream of course, in a sea of hot espresso.
The affogato is eaten immediately, before the ice cream melts in the coffee. Over time, and after the ice cream has slowly melted, drink the remaining coffee, seasoned with the melted ice cream. You can say it is the perfect dessert because of the ideal combination between hot and cold, between sweet and bitter...
