Dining and Drinking

Being the lively city that it is, Tel Aviv offers all kinds of cuisines around the clock. Unlike Jerusalem, which is more religiously observant, Tel Aviv’s restaurants are open for business on Friday nights and Saturdays.

Tel Avivians tend to eat later in the day, so if a restaurant seems a little empty at 8p, chances are that by 10p it will be buzzing. Restaurants and cafés are often open to 2a and beyond. Some never shut their doors.

Tel Aviv is a city you will never have to worry about going hungry in for lack of open eateries. It is also a city where you will never complain that the offerings at restaurants are monotonous. A good place to sample the many kinds of food available is the weekly Homebaking Food Fair at the Dizengoff Centre, which takes place on Thursdays and Fridays. Here, vendors set up stalls with homemade food. All kinds of Jewish foods are available, from the cholent of Eastern Europe (a thick stew with beans) to the malawah of Yemen (a fried pastry served with tomato relish).

In terms of other international cuisines, there is Asian, Arabic and South American to try. The yearly Ta'am Ha'Ir food festival at Hayarkon Park also offers a chance to get acquainted with the culinary offerings of Tel Aviv. At this event, held in June, top restaurants set up booths, offering small sample portions of their cuisine for reasonable prices.

Café-restaurants in Tel Aviv are very popular. The seats normally spill out onto the pavements allowing dining al fresco in both summer and winter (heat lamps are installed next to the tables). These places do a brisk trade all day, starting with breakfast customers and staying open until the early hours of the morning. Typical fare will include coffee, freshly squeezed juice and a selection of alcoholic drinks. Most main course dishes are big enough to share. Expect to see well presented salads made with fresh, healthy vegetables. As a country with a good climate and a big agricultural industry, Israel's fresh produce is exceedingly good. This is not the land of limp lettuce leaves, although be advised that this was not always the case, so in Israel, "salad" usually means a sort of salsa made out of tomato, cucumber, and onion. Other standard café food includes toasted sandwiches on large bagels and a range of Continental-style desserts.

You will not have to saunter far to find a typical Tel Aviv café. Try Café Basel, on Basel Square, for a refined experience; London Café on the beach, for a table beside the waves; and Sheinkin Street, Rothschild Boulevard or the cafés opposite Rabin Square if you want crowds and commotion.

The range of non-Kosher options in Tel Aviv is huge compared to Jerusalem. There are restaurants such as Mika with large seafood menus, barbecue heavens like Papagaio, and most Asian restaurants have pork dishes on their menu.

For strictly Kosher travellers, there is still an array of options, especially in the areas around the deluxe hotels. Shangrila serves upmarket Thai food, China Lee is a Glatt Kosher Chinese restaurant and the majority of falafel stands have Kashrut certificates.

Israel has a fascination with the East and this is reflected in the popularity of its Asian restaurants. There are several Japanese eateries in town, including Moon, a revolving sushi bar. In terms of Chinese food, Yin-Yang offers all kinds of dishes with rice and noodles. Giraffe is a trendy noodle bar and Thai House offers inexpensive and very tasty dishes.

In Tel Aviv, Italian restaurants and steakhouses are also easy to come by. The city has a mix of old, established restaurants and newcomers, which come and go with dizzying rapidity. Generally you do not have to walk more than a few hundred meters to bump into an eatery as this is a city that loves food.

All that is left to say is 'Betayavon' (Bon Appetit).

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