A Foodie’s Guide to a Day in the Golan

A Foodie’s Guide to a Day in the Golan

There is something so lovely about leaving Jerusalem, hitting the open highways and breathing in the fresh air as you drive up to the Golan. 

The northern part of Israel is underratedly a foodie paradise with hidden gems around every corner. Little mom and pop bakeries, tons of wineries, and views that will leave you breathless. 

After months of building a list of all the places I wanted to hit, I set off with a few friends for a quick day trip to Northern Israel. When I say quick I mean we left Jerusalem at 6 am and got back in time for to hear the Shabbat siren. 

So what did we do and where did we eat? Great questions, thanks for asking.

While traveling down Kvish Hachof, we started our day at Mama Coffee Cart in Hofit. This community, founded in the 1950’s, has just under 800 residents. Located just past the entrance to the community is a little coffee shop on wheels serving up delicious whipped coffee and bowls! We tried a few different items including their acai, yogurt bowl, and bread sticks covered in cheese (not gluten free.) We had to wait a bit as service was slow but we didn’t mind because there was a neighborhood wide yard sale happening and we walked a way with tons of goodies.

After breakfast, we continued north towards Pelter Winery...

Yes, we stopped at the Golan sign to take photos because we are in fact those tourists. 

Pelter Winery, which opened in 2001 is located on Kibbutz Ein Zivan. (The same Kibbutz which houses DeKarina Chocolate) They are an interesting winery as they have a line of Kosher and a line of Non-Kosher wine. The winery has also expanded into a distillery and they have stellar gin! 
During the week the winery offers tours and tastings by reservation. On the weekends, they are open for tastings of wine and homemade cheese platters. The wine tasting is free and they offer a generous sample of tastings. They also have unique chefs dinners every month which you can find out more about on their social media. 

Cherry Picking, Odem

Following the wine tasting, nice a tipsy, we continued to Odem. This Moshav in the northern part of the Golan is the second highest town in Israel. The Moshav is packed with fun things to do for the whole family including a winery, cherry picking, and walking trails. We chose to use our time to go cherry picking. It was the peak of the season in early June and for just 17 shekels entry (Groo had discounted tickets) we got to eat as many cherries as we wanted. We also took home buckets of cherries for about 25 shekels each. We alloted about 2 hours for cherry picking which was more than enough time. 

The Har Odem Winery is located attached to the cherry farm and our only regret was not finding time to give them a visit. Also in the area is Assaf winery which has wonderful wines and a beautiful guest house.

Lunch Goals, Thali Indian

Our last stop of the day was Thali Indian in Kiriat Shemona. This place is UNREAL y’all. Authentic, tasty, and reasonably prices. We tried tons of their dishes including the dosa (my fave), the Thali platter, and palak paneer. They also offer curry in take home sizes which was great as we were getting back to Jerusalem with minimal time to cook for Shabbat. They have tons of vegan options and are definitely a local favorite. (Not Kosher, 100% Vegetarian)
 
Did I mention almost the entire menu is gluten free? 
 
Have questions? You can always shoot me a DM on Insta for more details.

Want to make it more than a day trip? Check out these options for overnight stays.

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theisraelbites

I'm Jazzie, a 20 something wannabe globetrotter with Celiac Disease. Living in Israel and navigating being gluten free is no easy task, so I created TheIsraelBites to provide English speakers with information about surviving Celiac Disease in the Middle East.

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