Bunny Chow: Tel Aviv

The food scene in Tel Aviv is extremely unique in that you can sample food from all around the world. Jews that have come to settle here have brought their cuisine and thus have contributed to Israeli cuisine as a whole. For example you can sample Turkish bourekas for breakfast, Moroccan couscous for lunch, and a local falafel pita for dinner. The whole Jewish diaspora is represented here. One unique culinary contribution from the South African Jewish community would be the Bunny Chow. Bunny Chow can trace its roots to the city of Durban, where there is a significant Indian diaspora. There, the locals would put their curry lunch into a hollowed out piece of bread. The bunny referring to the bread or bun, while the chow is referring to the curry filling. Bunny Chow here in Tel Aviv has a local spin to it as they use a hollowed out Challah bun as the bread. You can fill your bunny with chicken, beef, or vegetarian curries. It is topped with cilantro, almonds, and yogurt. If you are vegan you can opt for tehina instead of yogurt. You can also sample their curries over rice if you want. Besides their curries, Bunny Chow sells other South African delicacies such as the Gatsby sandwich, boerie rolls, and biltong. The Gatsby is a sub sandwich filled with sweet pulled beef, mayonnaise, mango pickle, a fried egg, emmantal cheese, fries, and lettuce. It is an absolute messy delight to eat and highly recommended. The boerie roll is a South African sausage roll. The sausage itself is seasoned with nutmeg, cloves, and coriander seeds. The sausage is placed in a bun with apple raisin chutney, spicy mayonnaise, and lettuce. You can also sample locally made Biltong, which is South African dried and cured beef.  Everything is decently priced with most items being between 30-40 shekels and you will be pretty full after eating each South African delicacy they serve. You can find Bunny Chow in the Allenby Rothschild Market or deep in the heart of HaCarmel Market here in Tel Aviv. For a unique taste of South Africa, Bunny Chow is worth every shekel spent.