Talpiot Market doesn’t miss a beat. With intriguing openings, bars galore, and more than a handful of tasty places to get a bite, it’s the most open secret in Haifa

Haifa’s lower city has long since become a beloved culinary hotbed, drawing many visitors not only from atop the Carmel, but also from outside of town. The shawarma trail has acquired quite a following, and our beloved Wadi Nisnas has more praises than newspaper inches to accommodate them.

In short, in case you missed the message – things are happening in Haifa. Within all this, Talpiot Market may be appreciated by the cognoscenti, but it is yet to become public domain. A secret of sorts, relatively speaking, of course.

To those who haven’t heard, I’ll remind you that Talpiot is one of the oldest markets in the country. It has been operating since the 1930s in the Hadar neighborhood, with long years of neglect leading to the image of a strictly neighborhood market. The Haifa Municipality plans to restore and preserve some of its monumental structures, but meanwhile the truly interesting developments are taking place all around it.

Many tasty eateries have opened there, alongside those veteran produce stalls, delicatessens and fishmongers, little bakeries and tiny groceries, relics of an era now forgotten. In short, although it seems like an area for Haifa denizens only, these days this is one of the tastiest, fun-filled areas in town. Bonus: All these places are within walking distance of each other, so it’s very easy to sample several in a single visit. Here then is our complete guide to all the tasty places in Talpiot Market, which we hereby beseech you to visit on your next trip to Haifa.

This is the restaurant that made it all happen. When Ilan Peron opened Talpiot in 2015, he dreamed of a compound full of restaurants and revelers. People thought he was a madman throwing good money away, because who would come to eat on a dark and dirty street. After seven years, we can safely say that Peron is a pioneer, and how good it is to have madmen like him.

Talpiot is actually a sort of chef hamara (a Middle Eastern wine bar,) with a carefully curated food menu revolving mostly around vegetables, fish, and seafood, and it changes weekly. Here you can find, for instance, fresh-chopped mullet kebab (68 shekels), chopped roughed and delicately seasoned, octopus carpaccio with fermented red bell pepper, za’atar and crème fraiche (35 shekels) with tangy flavors that compliment the octopus meat, or say shrimp shish-barak (82 shekels) a marine version of the Arab dumplings, which rest here in a concentrated cream of condensed milk, browned butter, and pomegranate concentrate, with a trio of whole crystal shrimp.

You can stop here for a full meal, or just a glass of wine (don’t miss the superlatively curated wine list) and a little bite, watch the people going by, and thank Ilan for his glorious vision, which came true and then some.

Talpiot, 28 Sirkin St, Haifa. 04-6999-2296. Sun-Thur. 12:30-22:30; Fri. 12:30-17:30. Closed on Saturday. Non-kosher.

To call the Italian restaurant next door to Talpiot Restaurant that belongs to Chef Tomer Abergil a “pizzeria” is almost an insult, for this is a true Italian trattoria, and a menu combining vegetable, pasta, and risotto dishes, as well as a revolving offering of pizzas.

Let’s start from the bottom line: The pizzas here are among the best in the city. As they cannot be grouped under a single genre, we’ll call them “chef pizzas.” Not proper Napolitano pizzas, but also not completely Americanized pizzas. Rather something in between, say.

The crust here is particularly tasty, and the toppings are almost always interesting and unique, such as a pizza with crispy bacon, almonds, baked onion and pomegranate syrup, or a sabich pizza with grilled eggplant, potatoes, hardboiled egg, tehini, schug, and salty cheese. There are of course also more ordinary pizzas such as Margherita or pizza with pepperoni, and they’re all excellent (69-75 shekels per pizza)

Pizzeria Talpiot, 30 Sirkin St., Haifa. 04-907-1727. Closed Sat. and Sun. Mon.-Thurs., 12:00-23:00, Fri. 12:00-17:00.

Omri Atzmoni’s little bakery, tucked inside a little covered passage in the market which has gathered several small food businesses, focuses on sourdough breads. There are 15 kinds here each day, including a low-fiber bread suited to Crohn patients, for instance.

The bakery also offers breads made of rye, bran, barley, flax, nut and other surprising ingredients, with the common features to all being that they are health and vegan-oriented, and incredibly tasty. Sometimes you can get various sorts of pickles and spreads here, but it’s all about the excellent bread.

Einaim Bread, 21 Sirkin St., Haifa. 04-842-2170. Sun.-Thurs. 08:00-18:00; Fri, 08:30-15:30. Sat.: Closed. Kosher

Within the same passageway, you can find Tal Friedman’s little coffee shop. Not the one from TV, but the one specializing in what’s known as third-generation coffee. This means that this is actually a small roast house with a high-quality café, which apart from your classic espresso and cappuccino, also offers cold-brew coffees, cortado, affogato, and more.

You can also buy coffee beans for your home machine here, and different blends at different grinding degrees, and there’s a little menu of sandwiches and cakes prepared by Tal’s partner, but it’s all about the high-end joe, all Arabica varieties from growers around the world.

Café Talk, 21 Sirkin St., Haifa. 054-548-2331. Sun.-Thurs. 08:00-19:00; Fri. 08:00-16:00. Saturday 09:00-17:00. Non-kosher.

This eatery, whose name is a pun on the Hebrew for “from above,” is a relatively new delicatessen, but like in the case of Pizzeria Talpiot, calling it just a deli is a bit of an injustice. The deli itself offers goods by the finest producers in Israel, such as Noa (Dua) Levy’s spreads, Shirat Roim Dairy cheeses, Lewkowicz’s sausages, Eissalon’s excellent ice creams, and tons more.

But beside all that, you can sit down to eat here, from sandwiches such as Caesar’s with chicken, or egg salad, cauliflower, with Utopi’s vegan cheese or ham and Emmenthal (23-26 shekels.) to couscous, mejadra, beet kubbeh, or vegan shepherd’s pie (32-60 shekels.) Sometimes there are local vintages and special cocktails on offer, and we haven’t even mentioned the hydroponic garden operating on the floor above. More about Mile Mala – here.

Milè Mala, 21 Sirkin St., Haifa. 058-789-6033; Sun-Wed. 10:00-17:00; Thurs. 10:00-22:00 (the restaurant operates from 18:00.) Fri 09:00-17:00; Sat. Closed. Non-kosher.

Yaffa Shmilowitch, also a partner in the Mile Mala deli, opened her little eatery so that she could offer a proper Tunisian sandwich, made with her own two hands, which is a slightly upgraded version of the classic. Aside from tuna, potatoes, matbucha and pickled lemon, Shmilowitch will also add a bit of anchovies and capers, which totally take the dish to another level.

You can get your sandwich in the standard baguette, or in a fried fricassee which is tastier by several orders of magnitude, but is also a surefire ticket to heartburn – which in our opinion is worth it in this case. There are also bantaj patties and even deconstructed Tunisian sandwich in a plate, without the bread, and sometimes other tasty surprises.

Djerba, 050-726-3796; Sun-Thurs. 10:00-18:00; Fri. 10:00-14:00; Sat. Closed. Kosher.

Behind the seemingly generic name hides a surprising little restaurant. Still in the same passage, La Mexicana is precisely what its name indicates, a little Mexican place that features all the regular suspects, from nachos to tacos to a burrito ranked by many as the best in town. The tacos and burritos come with various fillings, from pulled beef to vegetarian options with black beans and green tomatoes.

The big ticket here are the tamales made on the spot, which can hardly be found anywhere else in the country. These are corn stalks containing cornmeal stuffed with meat or chicken, and steamed until it becomes a sort of soft, delicious dough. There are of course salsas of varying spiciness and churros with dulce de leche for dessert (25-50 shekels). Missing Mexico? This is the spot for you.

La Mexicana, 21 Sirkin St., Haifa; 053-238-7138; Sun.-Fri. 10:30-16:00. Sat. Closed. Non-kosher.

Vietnamese restaurants are a tender subject in Israel, and we hardly have any real ones. Pho 26 is one of the few, and it is a particularly fine specimen. This little spot immediately imparts a street vibe, as befits a Vietnamese eatery, and this short and tight menu doesn’t hold many options, but everything we had was excellent.

The piece de resistance is of course the pho soup, which come in vegan and meat options, both delicious, with a deep broth and a relatively delicate seasoning, rice noodles, pulled beef or fried tofu, and a mound of veggies, beansprouts, and a slice of lemon on the side, for each to add to taste (vegan 49 shekels, meat 64 shekels.)

Other than pho soup there are ban rolls with various fillings, rotating salads such as pomelo salad or bean noodle salad with fried fish that is served in lettuce leaf boats. If you’re looking for the best pho soup in Israel, at least for now, this is the place for you. Recently the owner opened a wine bar next door, and it is also recommended.

Pho 26, 26 Sirkin St., Haifa. Sat-Sun.: Closed; Mon-Thurs. 12:00-23:00; Fri. 11:30-17:00. Non-kosher.

Recently, we wrote a more-in depth article about this small restaurant, but it’s always good to mention Arabeska again and again. Inside the hipster-looking joint is a small but wonderful menu of Arab dishes from kubbeh stuffed with meat or with chicory and onions (30 shekels for three kubbeh) through to shish-barak dumplings in a sour and garlicky yoghurt soup (46 shekels) and vegetarian or meat maklubeh (46-49 shekels). There are also various humous dishes and some excellent salads. This is a must-stop location for us on every visit to Haifa.

Arabeska: Luntz 7, Haifa. 058-720-2007. Monday to Thursday, 11:00-18:00. Friday, 09:00-18:00. Saturday 11:00-18:00. Closed Sundays.

Did we say the market area is blossoming? Here’s another example. Carcade (hibiscus flower in Arabic) is a relatively new bar opened by Akram and Idan, the owners of Arabeska, and is located right next door to the restaurant. The bar is gay-friendly but also friendly to all.

Carcade serves mostly alcohol with a few snacks such as fries and toasted sandwiches. You don’t come to Carcade to eat, but to drink, because the alcohol menu here is exceptionally cheap with cocktails costing 18-26 shekels, beer 17 shekels and chasers 12 shekels. Once in a while Carcade hosts live shows and drag performances. The idea here is to come for a casual and inexpensive evening with friends.

Carcade: Luntz 9, Haifa. Tuesday to Thursday, 09:00-14:00, 20:00-01:00. Friday, 09:00-18:00. Saturday 11:00-18:00. Closed Saturday, Sunday, Monday.

The Pastry House (Beit Ha’maafeh)

This small joint in the heart of the market looks like it has been here since the 1970s without even one thing changing, even though it actually opened in the 1990s. Topping the menu are pastries from the Russian, Georgian and Bukharian kitchens, together with various dishes from the same cuisines. The Pastry House serves piroshki with various fillings, fried and crispy belyashi with a meat stuffing, blintzes with a meat stuffing, khachapuri stuffed with cheese or spinach, and more.

In addition to the pastries, Beit Ha’maafeh serves a variety of fried patties, jellied calves feet, stuffed cabbage, buckwheat and offers a huge variety of salads and salted fish. Pastries are priced from 7-15 shekels a piece.

Beit Ha’maafeh. Yehiel 10, Haifa. Monday to Thursday, 07:00-18:00. Closed Saturday, Sunday. Not Kosher.

The Brewery in the Talpiot market is a small and exceptionally friendly bar that also brews its own beers. There are four home-brewed beers on offer: Lager, red ale, dark Belgian ale and Weissbier, all of which are top quality as fitting for a boutique brewery.

The food menu includes snacks such as fries, sausages, sandwiches, shepherd’s pie, and burgers and the place has the feel of a fun, neighborhood bar where everyone knows each other and the waitresses are always in a good mood – but one where the menu is much better than your average neighborhood bar.

The Brewery. Sirkin 27, Haifa. Monday to Thursday, 12:00-23:00. Friday, 10:00-15:30. Closed on Saturdays. Kosher with a private certificate.

For desert, go for knafeh, and don’t roll your eyeballs because this is one of the best we’ve tried. At this small stall, Zidan, who always has a huge smile on his face, prepares a personal portion of crispy knafeh filled with goats cheese with a big presence, a little salty, and served with an excellent goat cheese ice cream. An outstanding vegan option is also served.

Along with knafeh, Zidan also serves very good baklava that is not too sweet, and on occasion awameh (sweet dumplings), which you have to try if they are available. The awameh are soft on the inside and crispy on the exterior and very hard to stop eating. If you need something to wash down all that sugar, Zidan will prepare tea from a mixture of herbs grown in a planter by the cash register (28-30 shekels).

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