By The Visit Israel Editorial Team · Last updated
Walk the Jerusalem spice market at its most alive — bourekas, hummus, fresh juice and the stalls of the Old City market lanes with a local foodie guide, tastings included.
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Waking up to an Israeli breakfast buffet — labneh, shakshuka, fresh salads, bourekas and eggs — is one of the real pleasures of travelling here. Filter for "breakfast included" across every region.
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Walk into almost any Israeli café before noon and you will find the same ritual: a table covered in small plates, each one arriving without ceremony — a bowl of labneh drizzled with olive oil and za’atar, a pile of bourekas still warm from the oven, a dish of olives, soft cheeses, a diced salad glistening with lemon and olive oil, bread, tahini, jam. A pan of shakshuka bubbling at the edge. This is the aruchat boker — the Israeli morning meal — and it is unlike breakfast anywhere else.
The Israeli breakfast traces to the communal dining halls of the early kibbutzim. Workers rose before dawn, laboured in the fields, and returned for a substantial morning meal built from the farm’s own produce: cheeses and yoghurt from the dairy, eggs from the chicken run, vegetables from the kitchen garden. The meal was abundant and egalitarian — the same spread for every table.
By the 1980s and 1990s, city cafés had adopted the format as a restaurant staple. Today the aruchat boker is both a national institution and an internationally recognised culinary export, with Israeli-style breakfast cafés operating from New York to Berlin. When you eat it here, at the source, the ingredients are fresher, the cheeses more varied, and the shakshuka made with real conviction.
A full Israeli breakfast spread typically includes:
Not every café serves every element; a simpler café might bring labneh, eggs and salad. The grandest hotel buffet sets out twenty dishes. The spirit is the same.
Shakshuka deserves its own section. It is eggs poached directly in a thick, spiced tomato-and-pepper sauce, served in the same pan it was cooked in, with bread for mopping. The dish came to Israel via North African Jewish immigrants — principally Libyan and Tunisian communities — who brought the sauce with them in the mid-twentieth century. Israeli cooks adopted it enthusiastically, and it has since become the country’s most famous exported breakfast dish.
Classic shakshuka — spiced tomato sauce, red peppers, onion, cumin, paprika, eggs. Rich, warming, deeply savoury.
Green shakshuka — a herb-forward variation using spinach, Swiss chard or tomatillos instead of tomatoes. Lighter, brighter, common in Tel Aviv cafés.
White shakshuka — eggs cooked in an Israeli cheese or cream sauce, sometimes with mushrooms. The mildest variant; popular in upscale breakfast restaurants.
Benedict is the reference point for the format in Tel Aviv — an all-day breakfast institution with several branches (the original is on Rothschild Boulevard) open 24 hours. The menu runs through every shakshuka variation plus the full aruchat boker spread, with eggs benedict and French-influenced additions alongside the Israeli classics. Mid-range; worth booking on a weekend morning.
Café Meshek Barzilay in Florentin is the vegan pioneer: a full Israeli breakfast spread without any animal products, pulling off labneh, shakshuka and bourekas equivalents with seasonal vegetables. Popular with Tel Aviv’s large plant-based community.
Sarona Market (the indoor food hall near the old Templer Colony) has morning-hours stalls where you can graze: Israeli cheeses, fresh pastries, coffee and a few small breakfast counters. More of a standing, tasting affair than a sit-down meal.
Dr. Shakshuka in the Jaffa Flea Market area is the most iconic single-dish destination. Owner Bino Gabso runs a loud, colourful Libyan-Jewish restaurant where shakshuka is served in heavy cast-iron pans and the menu extends to traditional North African dishes (mafrum, couscous, brick pastry). Budget to mid-range; cash is king. Arrive before the lunchtime rush. See the Jaffa travel guide for the full neighbourhood context.
The morning market at Mahane Yehuda transforms as day breaks: spice stalls and bakeries open before 8am, and a cluster of small breakfast counters serves bourekas, sesame rolls (bagele) and hummus to market workers and early visitors. Azura near the market is a traditional Iraqi-Jewish restaurant open from morning; try the hamin (slow-cooked cholent stew) or a plate of hummus with whole chickpeas. See the Jerusalem food guide for the market context and nearby restaurant scene.
Most mid-range and above hotels in Israel include breakfast, and it is among the best hotel breakfast cultures anywhere. The King David Hotel Jerusalem and the Mamilla Hotel both offer celebrated morning buffets with sweeping views alongside a full aruchat boker spread. Isrotel chain hotels consistently include good quality breakfasts in their room rates.
The advantage of a restaurant is neighbourhood immersion and made-to-order shakshuka — a hotel buffet keeps it warm, which changes the texture. The advantage of a hotel breakfast is convenience and variety, especially if you are heading out early for a day trip.
If you are booking accommodation, look for “breakfast included” in the filter on Booking.com. In Israel it almost always means a full aruchat boker spread, not just a pastry and coffee.
The Galilee and north: Arab-Israeli and Druze morning food influences the breakfast table here — malawach (Yemenite pan-fried flatbread) and jachnun (slow-overnight-baked Yemenite pastry, dense and caramelised) appear alongside the standard cheeses and salads. In Druze villages in the Carmel range, the spread might include stuffed grape leaves and labneh so thick you can slice it. See the Druze villages guide for morning experiences in the Carmel hills.
Eilat and the south: Resort-hotel breakfast buffets are common and tend toward an international mix alongside the Israeli standards. Less neighbourhood-café culture; most visitors eat at their hotel.
Kashrut: Most Israeli breakfast restaurants are kosher dairy — no meat on the menu, and the kitchen keeps dairy and non-dairy strictly separate. Look for the teudat kashrut certificate on the wall. Some Florentin, Tel Aviv port and Jaffa restaurants are not kosher; the Arab-Israeli restaurants of Nazareth, Akko and the Wadi Nisnas market in Haifa operate outside kosher rules entirely.
Timing: Breakfast in Israel runs long — cafés serve the full aruchat boker until noon or 1pm in most cities. Some, like Benedict, serve it around the clock. Weekend mornings (Friday especially) draw the longest queues at popular restaurants; arrive before 9am or after 11am to avoid the rush.
Shabbat: Most kosher restaurants close before sundown on Friday and reopen Saturday night. Non-kosher cafés in Tel Aviv’s Florentin, Jaffa and the port area are often open through Shabbat. See the Shabbat guide and what’s open on Shabbat for the full picture.
For the full story of Israeli food culture — hummus, falafel, knafeh, mezze and the regional kitchens — see the Israeli food and cuisine guide. For street food eaten standing up, the Israeli street food guide covers the pita sandwiches, market stalls and roving vendors city by city. For sit-down restaurants and neighbourhood dining in Tel Aviv, the Tel Aviv food guide has the full picture. If you want a guide to navigate the morning markets for you, Israel food tours and cooking classes covers the organised options.
An Israeli breakfast (aruchat boker, אֲרוּחַת בֹּקֶר) is a mezze-style morning spread rather than a single dish — a generous table of small plates including labneh (strained yoghurt with olive oil and za'atar), fresh cheeses, a finely diced tomato-and-cucumber salad, olives, tahini, hummus, bourekas pastries, fresh bread, jam and honey, and eggs prepared to order or shakshuka. It traces back to communal kibbutz dairy farms and has become a celebrated restaurant format across the country.
Dr. Shakshuka in Old Jaffa is the most famous destination — a long-running Libyan-Jewish institution run by Bino Gabso, with multiple shakshuka variants cooked in the pan. Benedict in Tel Aviv (several branches; famous for all-day breakfast) and the morning stalls at Mahane Yehuda Market in Jerusalem also draw devoted regulars. For hotel shakshuka, Israeli hotel breakfast buffets almost universally include it, made fresh each morning.
Yes, for most travellers. Israeli hotel breakfast — included at mid-range and above — is among the best hotel breakfast cultures in the world. You get a full aruchat boker spread: cheeses, salads, shakshuka, smoked fish, bourekas, fresh juice and strong coffee. Budget roughly ₪80–150 per person if you eat at a breakfast restaurant instead — the hotel rate often pays for itself on day one.
Classic shakshuka is eggs poached in a spiced tomato-and-pepper sauce (Libyan Jewish heritage, brought to Israel by North African immigrants). Green shakshuka replaces the tomato base with herb-heavy green ingredients — spinach, tomatillos, Swiss chard or za'atar — for a lighter, herbaceous version. White shakshuka uses an Israeli cheese or cream sauce instead of tomatoes. All three are common on Israeli breakfast menus.
Most Israeli breakfast restaurants are kosher dairy, meaning no meat is served at the table. The full spread — cheeses, eggs, shakshuka, salads, bourekas — is naturally meat-free, making Israeli breakfast one of the easiest meals for vegetarians. Many cafés and hotel restaurants are certified kosher; some Florentin and Jaffa spots are not — check the sign by the door. The meal is also highly vegan-adaptable: ask for labneh and egg dishes; skip the cheeses.
Aruchat boker (אֲרוּחַת בֹּקֶר) is Hebrew for "morning meal" or breakfast. In Israeli culture it carries a specific meaning beyond a simple morning meal — the communal, mezze-style spread of the kibbutz morning table, now a celebrated restaurant format. The phrase is used on menus across Israel for a full breakfast spread, not just a quick coffee and pastry.
By The Visit Israel Editorial Team · Last updated