Roladin: B+ First opened in Ramat Hasharon in the Eighties, Roladin now has 34 branches around the country. Despite its size, the bakery and café chain has managed to maintain the quality of its products, while regularly changing and updating its menu.Which is why its hamantashen were just a tad disappointing. Trying to stand out, Roladin has added cocoa beans and other flavorings to the pastry, which doesn’t really add to the taste and just comes across as gimmicky. But the fillings made up for the blandness of the dough, both in quality and quantity, though the variety was a little overwhelming. Flavors: Poppy-seed pastry with poppy-seed filling; cranberry pastry with yogurt, granola and cranberries; coconut pastry with dates, masala spices and roasted peanuts; cranberry pastry with raspberries, rose water and almond paste; cocoa-bean pastry with halva and Belgian chocolate chunks; cocoa-bean pastry with chocolate and Belgian chocolate chunks; cocoa-bean pastry with pralines, peanut butter and salted peanuts; and coconut pastry with walnuts and a hint of orange.NIS 9.50 per 100 gr. DairySeveral locations around the country
Bonjour: B Bonjour, a supplier to several supermarkets and other stores, recently opened a bakery in Tel Aviv. Its hamantashen were the only surprise – parve pastries that are worth eating for their flavor and not just at a meat meal. The pastry was crisp and tasty, and the fillings hit the spot. When asked how Bonjour kept its price so low – the cheapest I tried – the manager of the Tel Aviv store said that other bakeries are far too expensive.Flavors: Chocolate, poppy seed, date and nut.NIS 30 a kilo. Parve 41 King George Street, Tel Aviv Pe’er: B-Tucked away behind Emek Refaim Street, Pe’er is a charming bakery that offers the Israeli-style classics. With its hamantashen, it has adapted its pastry to the filling, pairing chocolate dough with halva filling and cinnamon pastry with nuts. The result was a crisp, sweet exterior with a tasty filling. The dates were harder and chewier than most, which I enjoyed as a change.Flavors: Chocolate, date, nut, poppy seed and halva with chocolate pastry.NIS 40 a kilo. Parve5 Hamagid Street
33 Etz Haim Street
Neeman: B-Neeman offers mass-produced, usually parve, baked goods that are reliable but not outstanding. The same can be said of its hamantashen. The pastry, though parve, was not offensive but it tasted, well, parve. The fillings were adequate in quantity and quality. The price was mid-range, and so was the result.Flavors: Nut, poppy seed, chocolate, date and halva.NIS 65 a kilo. ParveSeveral locations around the country Aroma: C To be fair, Aroma is not really a bakery, so perhaps it should be given credit for getting into the holiday spirit. But it serves only one type of hamantashen – chocolate, which is sold individually. The cloyingly sweet filling was reminiscent of a chocolate croissant; and the pastry, which was neither crisp nor rich nor soft, had an undefined consistency.Flavors: Chocolate NIS 4 each. Dairy
Several locations around the country Marzipan: C-Best known for its sticky rogelach that foreign students flock to buy from Mahaneh Yehuda, Marzipan has now branched out to more outlets and a wider variety of baked goods. While I do enjoy Marzipan’s rogelach, which are more chocolatey and moist than most, the hamantashen were a disappointment. The pastry was too soft, and the vanilla-chocolate chip filling was gluey and not a success in general. At the German Colony branch, the hamantashen were not sold by the weight, which is inconvenient for those who want to buy more than one type.Flavors: Vanilla chocolate chip, chocolate, date, nut and poppy seed NIS 22 for a container. Parve
Several locations in Jerusalem
Mega: C-I had been hoping to be pleasantly surprised by the supermarket contender but, sadly, I wasn’t. The pastry was bland, and the filling unremarkable. The chocolate flavor was a cheaper version of what I spread on my children’s sandwiches on Fridays.Flavors: Chocolate, date and poppy seed.NIS 34 a kilo. Parve
Several locations around the country Lalush: D Lalush’s hamantashen dough was dry and grainy, and the fillings did not compensate for that. The halva and chocolate flavors I tried were obviously sandwich spreads.Flavors: Chocolate, halva and poppy seed.Price: NIS 37 a kilo. Parve
22 Agrippas Street
34 Ha’oman Street S
hilat Industrial Zone, near Modi’in