The 7 Best Sandwiches in Israel (2026)

Updated August 2026 · 7 picks

The best sandwiches in Israel are immigrant inventions: sabich, the Iraqi aubergine and egg pita; the Iraqi fried fish sandwich; shawarma rolled in laffa; and the bureka with crushed egg. They are sold from counters and market stalls rather than cafes, cost ₪20–₪45, and are eaten standing up. Seven worth finding, below.

1. Sabich Tchernichovsky — Tchernichovsky Street, Tel Aviv

The sabich that Tel Aviv treats as the reference version.

₪ Budget

Sabich Tchernichovsky is the counter most often named when Tel Aviv argues about sabich, and it is a proper hole-in-the-wall operation: a small shop, a long queue at lunchtime, and a very fast assembly line.

The build is the classic one — fried aubergine, hard-boiled egg, hummus, tahini, salad, pickles, amba — and the aubergine is the tell. It should be properly fried and soft rather than greasy or underdone.

It is a five-minute walk from the Carmel Market, which makes it easy to combine with a market morning.

Good to know: Say yes to the amba and the harif. Sabich without amba is a different and lesser sandwich.

Google Maps Website

2. The Iraqi fish sandwich, Levinsky — Levinsky, south Tel Aviv

Fried fish, amba and salad in a bun — Israel's most underrated sandwich.

₪₪ Mid-range

The Iraqi fried fish sandwich is a Levinsky speciality: a fillet fried to order, packed into bread with amba, tahini, chopped salad and pickles, and eaten immediately over a paper wrapper.

It is messier and more interesting than anything else on this list, and it exists because Iraqi Jewish immigrants brought the combination of fried fish and amba with them in the 1950s.

Levinsky is the spice market street and the whole area rewards a slow walk — bourekas, dried fruit, spice shops and the best sandwich counters in Tel Aviv.

Good to know: Eat it at the counter. It does not survive a walk home in a bag.

Google Maps Website

3. Shawarma in laffa — Nationwide

The full-size version — a big flatbread wrapped around a proper meal.

₪₪ Mid-range

Shawarma in Israel is usually turkey rather than lamb, carved off the spit and rolled into a laffa with hummus, tahini, chopped salad, pickles, onion and chips, which turns it from a snack into a full and fairly enormous meal.

The best counters carve to order rather than holding cut meat, and they let the fat render properly, which is where the flavour is. A shawarma counter with a fast queue is a good sign.

Our national shawarma guide covers where to go in detail; as a sandwich, this is the heaviest thing on this list and the best value per shekel.

Good to know: Ask for it in a laffa rather than a pita — the pita cannot hold a proper portion.

Google Maps Website

4. The bureka with crushed egg — Levinsky and nationwide

The working breakfast of Israel, assembled in about forty seconds.

₪ Budget

Order a bureka at a Balkan bakery and ask for it 'with everything' and you get a sandwich: the pastry split open, a hard-boiled egg crushed over it, chopped tomato salad spooned on, a pickle and often a pickled cucumber alongside.

It is the cheapest satisfying meal in the country and the one most likely to be eaten standing on a pavement at 8am, and the potato or cheese fillings are the ones to start with.

Levinsky in Tel Aviv has the best bakeries for this, but every town in Israel has a version.

Good to know: The pickle is not optional. It cuts the pastry and the egg and the whole thing collapses without it.

Google Maps Website

5. Falafel in a pita — Nationwide

The default sandwich of the country, and the one that never disappoints.

₪ Budget

The falafel pita remains the baseline against which every other Israeli sandwich is measured: hot fried chickpea balls, hummus, tahini, chopped salad, pickles, cabbage and, if you want it, chips inside the bread.

It is vegan by default, costs under ₪30 nearly everywhere, and the salad bar is usually unlimited, which is why it is the standard student and soldier meal.

Quality depends entirely on how recently the balls came out of the fryer, so choose the counter with the queue rather than the sign.

Good to know: Ask for a fresh ball while they build it — most counters hand one over unprompted.

Google Maps Website

6. The Machane Yehuda counters — Machane Yehuda, Jerusalem

Jerusalem's market, and the densest run of sandwich counters in the country.

₪ Budget

Machane Yehuda packs sabich, falafel, shawarma, kubeh, bourekas and Georgian and Kurdish specialities into a few crowded alleys, and it is the best single place in Israel to eat your way through this entire list in one morning.

The market's character is Iraqi, Kurdish and Persian as much as anything else, which is exactly the immigration history that produced these sandwiches.

Thursday and Friday morning are the busiest and best. It closes Friday afternoon and stays shut through Shabbat.

Good to know: Come hungry and eat several small things rather than one big one — that is how the market works.

Google Maps Website

7. The Akko old city counters — Old City souk, Akko

Vaulted market lanes, Arab bakeries, and the north's best cheap eating.

₪ Budget

Akko's walled old city holds a covered souk lined with bakeries and food counters, and it is the best place in the north to eat sandwiches — flatbreads with za'atar and cheese, falafel, fried fish from the harbour, and hummus a few doors along.

Because the old city is Arab-majority, it operates on Saturday, which makes Akko a useful Shabbat day trip from Haifa or the Galilee.

The Crusader halls, the harbour and the sea walls are all within the same walk, so the food fits naturally into a half day.

Good to know: Open on Saturday — one of the easier places in the north to eat well on Shabbat.

Google Maps Website

Frequently asked questions

What is sabich?

A pita filled with fried aubergine, hard-boiled egg, hummus, tahini, chopped salad, pickles and amba — the pickled mango sauce that defines it. Iraqi Jews brought it as a Shabbat breakfast, since everything in it can be cooked in advance. It is now the most beloved sandwich in the country.

What is amba?

A tangy, funky pickled mango condiment that came to Israel with Iraqi Jews via India, and the single ingredient that most separates an Israeli sandwich from anything else. It is divisive on first taste and addictive by the third. If a counter offers it, say yes.

What does a sandwich cost in Israel?

Roughly ₪20–₪30 for sabich or falafel in a pita, ₪35–₪55 for shawarma in a laffa, and ₪12–₪20 for a bureka with the works. Salads, pickles and sauces are included and usually unlimited, which makes the pita end of this list one of the best-value meals in the country.

Pita or laffa?

Pita is the pocket bread and holds less; laffa (or esh tanur) is the large flat bread that gets wrapped around a much bigger filling. Shawarma is usually better in a laffa, sabich and falafel are better in a pita. Every counter will ask which you want.

Are these sandwiches vegetarian?

Sabich, falafel and the bureka sandwich are all vegetarian, and sabich and falafel are vegan apart from the egg — which you can leave out of falafel. Israel's street food is unusually easy to navigate without meat, and the counters are used to the question.

Where do I find the good ones?

Markets and residential streets rather than tourist strips. Levinsky and the Carmel Market in Tel Aviv, Machane Yehuda in Jerusalem, Wadi Nisnas in Haifa, and the old town in Akko. The general rule is that the best counter on a street is the one with a queue of people who clearly work nearby.

1. Sabich Tchernichovsky — Tchernichovsky Street, Tel Aviv

2. The Iraqi fish sandwich, Levinsky — Levinsky, south Tel Aviv

3. Shawarma in laffa — Nationwide

4. The bureka with crushed egg — Levinsky and nationwide

5. Falafel in a pita — Nationwide

6. The Machane Yehuda counters — Machane Yehuda, Jerusalem

7. The Akko old city counters — Old City souk, Akko

Frequently asked questions

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