Street food | Page 5 of 7
Nam Wah Snack: A Chinese-Mauritian Bistro in Flic en Flac
Nam Wah Snack is a small Chinese-Mauritian bistro on the coastal road in Flic en Flac: a counter, a wok and a few tables under ceiling fans. Fried and boiled noodles, fried rice and bol renversé are cooked only after you order, wontons float in clear chicken broth, and the fried snacks are usually gone after two o'clock. Cash only.
Sabich: Iraqi Sandwich with Eggplant and Egg
Sabich is a pita stuffed with fried eggplant, hard-boiled egg, tahini and amba, a pickled mango sauce. Iraqi Jews came up with it in Israel - it was born in 1961 at a stall in Ramat Gan and it's named after the man who first sold it. Today Israel calls it the national sandwich, and in Jerusalem there's a kosher bistro that makes nothing else.
Bourekas: Filled Puff Pastry
In an Israeli bakery the shape tells you the filling: a triangle means cheese, a square potato. Bourekas, a filled parcel of flaky puff pastry, was brought to Israel by Sephardi Jews from the Ottoman Empire - along with a name that is grammatically a plural. And in Jerusalem there's a bistro that has been doing nothing else since 1959.
Machaneh Yehudah Market: The Jerusalem Souk That Transforms Before Shabbat
The Machaneh Yehudah market is the main marketplace of West Jerusalem: more than 270 stalls selling olives, spices and halva, with bistros and bars tucked in between them. It borrowed its name from a neighborhood it doesn't belong to, and its whole week builds toward Friday afternoon - the sell-off before Shabbat, after which the packed lanes empty out in a matter of minutes. I was there to see it.
Pizzeria Timilia: Pizza from an Ancient Wheat in Palermo
Pizzeria Timilia on Palermo's via Maqueda takes its name not from a family but from tumminia, an ancient Sicilian wheat that goes into every dough the place mixes. What it bakes is pizza in teglia: in a tray, sold by the piece and by weight, warmed through just before it reaches you. What that format is, where it came from, and what the two pieces I picked out of the display case cost.
Sfrigola Bistro: Arancini Fried to Order in Palermo
Street food you wait for: the Palermo bistro chain Sfrigola fries its arancini only once you've ordered and puts the whole operation behind glass. Who is behind a place named after the sound of sizzling fat, why the arancina is always a woman here, and how my version with porchetta, cheese and pickled porcini tasted.
Sfincione: A Tall Leavened Flatbread from Palermo with Onion and Anchovies
Sfincione is a tall, spongy leavened flatbread from Palermo with slow-cooked onion, tomatoes, anchovies and breadcrumbs with cheese, one that not even the Italians can quite place - somewhere between pizza and focaccia. The name "Sicilian pizza" came from America. Where it comes from, why it originally had no tomatoes and how it tasted from a cart by the del Capo market.
Sarde a Beccafico: Sicilian Sardines Stuffed with Breadcrumbs and Raisins
Sarde a beccafico are Sicilian sardines opened out like a book, stuffed with toasted breadcrumbs, raisins and pine nuts and baked with the tail sticking up, so that they look like the little bird they are named after. Palermo bakes them, Catania fries them with cheese, Messina stews them in tomatoes. I bought mine at the del Capo and Ballarò markets, two pieces for a euro.
Ballarò Market: Where Palermo Eats Breakfast
The oldest and largest of Palermo's historic markets reaches your ears before it reaches your eyes: the vendors hawk their wares in a singsong chant called abbanniata. Panelle sizzle among the stalls, boiled octopus is sliced to order and oysters wait on ice. You can put a whole breakfast together here, from raw shrimp to baked ricotta with honey - all you have to do is walk from stall to stall.
Arancini: Sicilian Fried Rice Balls
Arancini are fried balls of saffron-tinted rice, filled with meat ragù or something else and rolled in breadcrumbs - the best-known street food in Sicily. Palermo makes them round and calls them arancina, Catania makes them pointed like Etna and calls them arancino; the island has been arguing over a single letter for decades. And the oldest Sicilian dictionary lists them as a dessert.