Chef Ariel Rosenthal is the esteemed owner of Hakosem, a renowned culinary landmark in Tel Aviv celebrated for its authentic Middle Eastern street food, particularly its falafel and hummus. He is also the co-author...
!שלום
Shalom!
If this post gains enough traction, I will come and give a far more detailed review but for now, here is my summary:
We visited on June 22 and 25, 2026.
Every single member of our party loved their food and considered this restaurant an authentic Israeli culinary masterpiece. Whether you get
The flavourful Shawarma (meat shaved from a vertical rotisserie),
The green Falafel (boring description of the falafel, I know, but the falafel was genuinely amazing and fresh),
The complex Sabbich (boiled egg, fried eggplant in a pita),
The velvety hummus (chickpea dip with tahini, lemon juice and olive oil),
The refreshing Rimonade (pomegranate lemonade - rimon is pomegranate in Hebrew)
Or literally anything else, you won't find a dish here that is not an absolute wonder.
We arrived before 12 pm and there was no line and plenty of seating.
If you are in Tel Aviv and want to have possibly the best meal of your life, then by all means, come to HaKosem 🇮🇱!
Long line even late at night. Great falafel. Watm with fluffy pita. Everything is fresh. Great salad and tehini. Plenty of outdoor sitting. They also have shawarma and schnitzel and you can order in a plate.
4
The schawarma pita was really good, and the eggplant pieces they add in are pretty legendary. This place is quite expensive, though. 68 NIS for the shawarma pita and a small bottle of water. There’s also a small salad bar where you can serve yourself picked veggies and hot sauces. Here’s a tip: don’t buy a bottle of water. The pickled veggie bar has a large dispenser of cold water and you can get a cup for free.
Keep in mind seating is quite limited and this place gets very busy, so be prepared to share a table and make a new friend!
5
You know you are going to have a good felafel when you have to queue to get a seat. This is Israel. There is felafel everywhere. Being considered one of the best here is something special.
We ordered the felafel plate and boy was the felafel amazing. It's totally amazing that there can be such a wide chasm great felafel and really great felafel. This was really great felafel.
5
I ABSOLUTELY LOVED HAKOSEM! It was super busy but i found a place to sit and got their huge servings of hummus, friend eggplant, falafel, schawarma! Definitely too much food for one person, but i loved it! The hummus was spectacular! The falafels were green and crunchy! You get to make your salad and they have loads of sauces and tahina to dip your falafels! I dream of visiting again! My favorite spot in Tel Aviv🫶🏽❤️🔥
