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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.
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2C
Views of Tel Aviv don't get much better than the ones from restaurant, located on the top floor of the round Azrieli Tower. The kosher menu offers meat dishes such as fillets and chops with fresh veggies.
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Abu Shukri
A branch of the famed Abu Shukri in Abu Ghosh, this place serves up bowls of fresh hummus and beans. Unlike most fast-food joints, this one has a pleasant indoor setting with air-con. They also do great homemade lemonade.
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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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Bagels & Coffee
US-style bagels served up with your choice of cream cheese or veggie toppings.
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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.
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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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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 to that sees discounted drinks.
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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 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.
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Buddha Burger
A vegan bar and takeaway place whose specialities include burgers, frankfurters, sandwiches made with smoked tofu, fruit shakes made with soy milk and quiches based on milkless cheese.
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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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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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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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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.
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Carmel Market
Fresh fruits and vegetables are bought cheaply here, between the old Yemenite Quarter and Nahalat Binyamin St. This bubbling cauldron of commerce starts at Kikar Magen David. You need to push your way past the first few metres of clothing (Sponge Bob Square Pants boxer shorts and knock-off Nikes) to reach the more aromatic and enticing stalls of fruits and vegetables, hot breads and spices.
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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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Coffee Bean
This coffee-shop chain offers a relaxed, smoke-free, air-con sitting area. Laptop users will enjoy the big tables and free wi-fi. There are outlets on the first floor of the Dizengoff Centre and at 30 Ibn Gvirol St.
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Felafel Yosef
One of the best and most interesting felafel joints in the city. Here you are given a pita and allowed to add as much felafel and condiments as you please.
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Human Nature
A likable 'organic café', Human Nature specialises in health food using 100% organic ingredients. Wash down your teriyaki tofu with a pure fruit juice or try their excellent Bulgarian goat-cheese pizza, but save room for the organic sorbet ice-cream dessert.
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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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Karish
Step up to the bar and order hot-off-the-grill chicken or steak wrap, stuffed with diced tomatoes, peppers, guacamole and garlic sauce. Delish.
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Kyoto Salsa
Black lacquer furniture and sharp lighting make a stunning stage for this Japanese and Latin fusion restaurant. The excellent menu ranges from Latin-spiced seafood casserole to Japanese business set lunch. Or for something light, order up some sushi, washed down with a margarita.
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Lechem Erez
Tel Aviv's original gourmet bakery is still going strong, despite a plethora of new competition. Enjoy some freshly baked bread, rosemary foccaccia, muffins, cheese, dips and jams served on the open-air patio.
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Luche
Fresh and fun, Luche is a breath of fresh air on Bograshov St. Here you can try all kinds of healthy meals in a bright, homey atmosphere, complete with couches and shelves stacked with books. Come in the morning for an Iraqi breakfast involving an omelette, salad, eggplant and tahini.
