so much love and care and thought goes into the food here
this video is about life-changing Israeli
street food that you can find here in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
we're taking you behind the scenes of Carmel- Israeli street food and introducing you to two
people who are passionate about sharing Israeli food culture with the community
it's bright and early in the morning it's 5:30 a.m and we are heading straight into the
kitchen at Carmel- Israeli street food to check out how they make their pita bread so the shop
opens in four hours the team are already hard at it as I walk into the kitchen the smell of
the dough is just enveloping the air oh my goodness look at it hey team hey good morning
so I'm Carmel and I'm the owner and co-owner of Carmel
yeah and I'm Tomer it's kind of like super weird to
introduce yourself but uh Tomer and I'm the owner and co-owner as well
this pita is life-changing I just want to make that very clear at the start of this video so this
pita makes every other pita that you eat, they just pale in comparison this is life-changing
the team are prepping 300 for today's service
and the dough itself is just the most beautiful thing it's so smooth and fluffy
we wanted a point of difference and I guess what we sort of focused on I'm not sure
if it was like the easiest choice for us was our pita bread and we sort of perfected it
during those years of like markets and stuff and getting like the right oven and the right
ingredients and whatever into it and then to sell something that a lot of people know here but they
know a specific kind of pita bread where what we make is quite different was a challenge like to
sort of re-educate that it could be like this and not have to be like that
these guys were just saying about how they know each pita personally
um they're almost like individual personalities and I think that's what makes this pita so special
it is what makes it so special because you can taste that love and that care in every bite
it is about to get really hot in here we are waiting for the oven that cooks the
pita to heat up to 500 degrees celsius so this baby has come all the way from Israel
and Tom is going to just feed the pita into it and cook it
it's going to take not long at all right? Yeah probably 20 minutes 25 minutes
to heat up?
to heat up just five more minutes and to finish all the batches that we made today probably between 25 to 30 minutes
and then how long does it take for each pita to cook? ah less than 60 seconds
60 seconds!
my heart is going a mile a minute I'm super nervous and excited these guys have said I'm
in charge of the first tray of pita I'm so worried that I'm going to stuff it up
keep going yeah oh my goodness it's so hot
500 degrees oh like magic watching them in there
puffing up so the heat is from both the top and the bottom and you just watch them grow wow
now this is a treat so pita fresh from the oven this is the freshest pita I've ever eaten
so let's tear it open wow oh my goodness okay and the team have prepared a beautiful bowl of
labneh cheese for us to dunk this into a bit of olive oil in that labneh there
life changing it is so good
we put a lot of love into those pita breads and we know each one of them personally
too personally
too personally in the shop there is a principle where the pita must be fresh you will never eat a day old pita
I am drooling Carmel is making one of my favourite items on the menu rugelach tell us about it
so rugelach is something from like Eastern Europe our grandmothers used to make that and we
just made it a little bit more fluffy than the original so it fits us Kiwis we like it
like nice and fat and gooey so what's on the inside?
so we have a mix of nutella and then
we have cocoa and cinnamon and butter and sugar that goes all in um yeah pretty simple
oh my godness a winner yeah a total winner so in Israel would you find rugelach at every bakery cafe
that yes every bakery it's something that every household buys for their house and
you know people have it at home have it at cafes
so a real staple yeah
the menu here is short and sweet so two pita challah and then a salad so do a few things
do them really well and then you've got the pastries as well the sweet treats so the rugelach
fresh from the oven um some kouign amann and then some other pastries from Scandibunz
the shop is open the oil is hot the falafel machine is cranking and Carmel is crafting us the
perfect falafel pita
so look at this fresh falafel what I love about this place is that the food
is so fresh and it's all made in-house so the falafel made up of chickpeas parsley garlic
onion and then all of those fresh ingredients that go into the falafel pita
falafel is a way of life in Israel isn't it?
yeah for sure it's uh an everyday thing
and you stand on the side of the road having your falafel stuffing your face putting a bit more
tahini or more hot sauce in a bit of pickles and there you go
oh my goodness it's a thing of beauty
I've got all my favourite menu items in front of me the crispy falafel pita so that freshly
made pita loaded with chickpea falafel there's hummus amba which is a mango pickle sauce tahini
sauerkraut gherkins on there there's the chicken schnitzel challah so chicken schnitzel
uh eggplant some greens labneh cheese hot sauce and then the rugelach so that's the sweet
uh crescent-shaped pastry that's just been smeared with cocoa and nutella cinnamon it smells
insane but this this is the holy grail if your only experience of eating falafel and pita
is that which comes from the supermarket this will blow your mind
absolutely unreal we were obviously really lucky in that we got to try the pita fresh
from the oven so this is about an hour old and I think I prefer it this way
there's nothing like freshly baked bread but this cooled pita has a texture you can
taste the personality, you know it's got a real flavour about it and then it's
just packed full of ingredients I love that these guys don't skimp so that every bite
contains it's the perfect mouthful every bite so you've got that crispy crunchy falafel it is so
moist and then the textural interplay between the the pickles the soft bread the creamy tahini oh
unreal another one of my favourites rugelach so this is a Jewish pastry that you'll find
all over Israel and every bakery and every cafe
and look at that it is beautiful and it is packed full of cocoa cinnamon nutella
check out that cross section oh man dense sticky
chocolatey utterly delicious I love what these guys are about we have so
enjoyed sharing the behind the scenes story of this place with you it's been neat watching
everything being created from scratch tracing that journey of the food and hanging out with
these guys they are so passionate about sharing Israeli food culture with the community you've got
to get here you've got to try this food thank you for watching we hope you enjoyed this one