Restaurants in Tel Aviv
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Manta Ray
Spectacularly set on the beach, Manta Ray combines a five-star seafood menu, attentive service and Mediterranean views. Pick a few dishes off the mezze platter (we liked the goat cheese and the eggplant) and then enjoy a main course of roasted scallops, sea bass fillet, grilled shrimp or a juicy steak. It's also a great place for breakfast.
reviewed
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Bagels & Coffee
US-style bagels served up with your choice of cream cheese or veggie toppings.
reviewed
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Messa
More than a restaurant with impeccable haute cuisine, Messa has a magical quality that raises the restaurant experience to a new level. The centrepiece of the white-on-white dining hall is an elongated table, where strangers are placed together to mix and mingle over their seafood casseroles, zucchini flowers and crème brûlée. Around the edge are small alcoves where others disappear into enormous black cushions so soft they nearly induce sleep.
The servers appear frequently to announce options for the next course, and everything is made from scratch by chef Aviv Moshe, who blends his Kurdish heritage with French and Mediterranean cooking. Following your meal, spare tim…
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24 Rupees
Down a windswept street in southern Tel Aviv, amid motorcycle shops and warehouses, sits this extremely popular rooftop Indian restaurant. The setting is reminiscent of a Sinai tiki-camp, complete with floor mattresses, colourful carpets and low tables, but the food is definitely Indian.
You have your choice of three types of vegetarian thali and homemade drinks - try the mango lassi. There is a very mellow, secret-society vibe here and the owners Uri and Neta are dedicated to preparing food with the freshest ingredients, all making it worth the long trek. A word of advice: the door downstairs is hard to spot and looks locked - don't worry, it's not.
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Café Tamar
This place was opened when the British Mandate was still in effect and the atmosphere hasn't changed much since those heady days.
Owner Sarah Stern (who has been in charge since 1955) can still be found at the café, gabbing with her customers about her days spent serving in the British army. Her specialty, half a bagel with cheese, a hard boiled egg and salad has been the cornerstone dish for half a century. The crowd is a mix of old-timers and neighbourhood intellectual types. Visit on Friday to watch some serious chess matches.
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Orna and Ella
Set inside a beautifully renovated Bauhaus apartment, with a stark white design and no musical distractions, this 15-year-old institution serves homey gourmet cuisine to locals and celebrities alike (Natalie Portman was recently spotted here). It uses the freshest ingredients brought straight from the market and everything is made from scratch. The menu changes weekly, but you can count on the seared salmon, smoked duck and great sweet potato pancakes. Don't miss the excellent pastries!
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Suzana
If you've just come out of a performance at the Suzanne Dellal Centre, and want to enjoy another Neve Tzedek favourite, head across the street to this elegant outdoor dining establishment. Here you'll get a fusion of European and Mediterranean dishes, including stuffed vegetables and Cornish hen. Enjoy your meal on the open deck in the shade of an enormous ficus tree. If you are here in the evening, take in views of lovely Neve Tzedek while enjoying a drink on the rooftop lounge.
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Tapéo
Once you've settled in and polished of a couple of tapas snacks you can almost imagine that you've been transported to Barcelona. And like a Spanish restaurant you can find huge crowds mingling and drinking pitchers of Sangria till well after midnight. The menu is laden with delicious treats, including sliced scallops, jumbo shrimp wrapped in noodles, stuffed empanadas and grilled eggplant. It's located among other upscale restaurants, around the corner from the Cinematheque.
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Salon Mazal
A combination bookshop, library and café described by one of the volunteers as 'a centre for spreading alternative knowledge.' The café strictly adheres to a vegan menu and changes according to whoever is on duty (and all profits go towards animal rights groups). Pop in at least for some free-trade coffee served with soy milk. Lectures are occasionally held here and they have plenty of brochures and information on local events of interest to activists.
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Brasserie M&R
Up there with the most popular Tel Aviv restaurants, this French restaurant is busy all the time - stop by around 03:00 on a Tuesday and wonder at the crowds. The big leather couches, mirrors, brass fittings and brusque service will make Parisians feel at home, while the oysters, steaks and paté will please even the most sophisticated palates. It's quietly known as a meeting place for local celebrities, but still maintains a neighbourhood atmosphere.
reviewed
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Moses
This popular burger place stays busy well after midnight, especially on weekends. You can eat outside on the deck overlooking beautiful Rothschild Blvd or sit in the air-con interior. Moses serves some of the best hamburgers in Tel Aviv: a plump, 200g mixture of seasoned lamb and beef served with tangy sauces and toppings, or you can choose from a selection of appetisers and sandwiches. After midnight the price of a burger and fries drops.
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Bialik Café
A unique café, this place is larger than most, with high ceilings and diner-style seating. The food ranges from excellent to amazing, and if you aren't too hungry they offer the same dishes in tapas-sized portions (for half the price). Try the salmon and teriyaki tapas or the entrecote (beef) skewers. They have free wi-fi access, live music most nights and a 'happy hour' from 16:00 to 22:00 that sees discounted drinks.
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Café Noah
Popular with writers, poets, pundits and other folk desperately attempting avoid a nine-to-five job, Noah has well-worn wood floors a small library and dozens of dusty old National Geographics. The menu offers salads, sandwiches and all-day breakfast. For a healthy treat try to the quinoa salad, prepared with a type of grain indigenous to South America. There's live jazz every Sunday. Free wi-fi internet access.
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Tierra Health Bar
Tierra Health Bar does a wide range of organic treats; we recommend the chicken breast with millet or the red tuna and mushrooms - both excellent! But even better than the food is the massage you can get from your server (seven minutes, ₪20) - the staff members at Tierra are all certified massage therapists. To complete your healthy lunch date, grab a seat at the oxygen bar for 10 minutes of 100% pure O2.
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Sonia Gatzel Shapira
You'll find a crowd of regulars here sipping coffee, reading and chatting with the two brothers who own the place, Aviran and Snir. The indoor section, decked out in vintage furniture, grooves to a soundtrack of R&B, jazz or rock. Even better is the sunny patio out back. It has a mainly vegetarian menu, featuring pastas and sandwiches. Try the Moroccan bread with olive oil.
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Shine
This neighbourhood café, occupying a lovely spot under the trees, has a minimalist interior of white walls and silver trim, although most people prefer the outdoor patio. It attracts a young, smart set who mingle over brunch, drinking cappuccinos with soy milk or champagne cocktails. The menu is mainly light salads and sandwiches. Vegetarians will enjoy the curry tofu.
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Agadir Hotel
A fashionable restaurant with fine food offerings, mostly steaks and burgers piled high with a dozen different toppings (options include goat cheese, Portobello mushrooms, guacamole and smoked goose breast, among others). Done up like a Moroccan hotel lobby from the 1920s, there is another, more casual branch, located at 2 Nahalat Binyamin St.
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Chocolate Bar
Specialising in chocolate bars, chocolate drinks and even chocolate pizza, this place has the potential to overdose your sweet tooth. All the chocolate and ice-cream is homemade. Besides the obvious attraction of so much chocolate, this is also a very comfortable place to sit and watch stately Rothschild Blvd go about its business.
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Yakimono
This Japanese place has a hard-edge, minimalist design with shades of gray and sharp lighting. There is no dress code per se, but it was one the few places we found where the clientele tends to dress up rather than down. The sushi is excellent, but if you prefer a hot meal they do grilled teriyaki steaks and chicken.
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Benny the Fisherman
Sit on the deck and enjoy the sun setting over the harbour at this picturesque seafood restaurant. It's part of the newly renovated Old Port area, and while it still relatively new on the scene, it has won a popular following for the grilled fish, shrimp and calamari. Portions are large and the service is excellent.
reviewed
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Bugsy
Named after the well-known Jewish gangster Benjamin 'Bugsy' Siegel, this dimly-lit bistro has intimate seating and a menu featuring everything from marinated burgers to parmesan latkes. In the evening it turns into a lounge bar, complete with a DJ spinning records from a little alcove above the bar.
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Betty Ford
This retro funk bar/restaurant has a wonderful kitchen serving up delicious burgers topped with matbucha (cooked red peppers and tomatoes). Other great menu items include meat kebabs and grilled crab. The bathroom downstairs is an experience in itself with an (almost) unisex bathroom.
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Café Bacio
There is a very likable mood here, especially in the evening, when the attached loungeroom fills up with artists, musicians and plain old regulars. It's very sociable, a little bit like a bar without the alcohol. Instead the main menu items are desserts - ice-cream, brownies, cakes and coffee.
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Tozeret Haaretz
Overlooking beautiful Masarik park, this timeless bohemian café serves up some of the best cakes and sweets in the city, as well as some good-value snacks and meals. Try the excellent shakshuka. Make sure you go to the right place, it's tucked behind another café called Masarik 12.
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Hummus Ashkara
This is where locals go when they're after excellent hummus and fuul (fava bean paste). Further credibility was earned when a national newspaper recently voted its hummus the best in Israel. The sign is in Hebrew only, so look out for the Coca-Cola sign and the tables on the street.
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