Check Out the New “Must-Taste” Eateries in Tel Aviv
New Tel Aviv Restaurants not to miss. Tel Aviv restaurants, like all cities around the world, have had a hard couple of years. However, a new crop of restaurants has sprung with new concepts, revisited menus and a renewed energy. Spring brought with it a new crop to the foodie scene: a new wine bar for Chef Raz Rahav, a special farm shop in the center of Tel Aviv and a new branch of the mythical Mother restaurant from Jerusalem – these are the new restaurants, delicacies and bars you must know.
So it’s true that new and invested restaurants are hardly opening anymore, and it’s true that street food has taken over the scene for us, but that’s certainly to be expected given most restaurateurs’ aspiration right now – to cut costs, save manpower, recover from the corona and emerge from the crisis with as little damage as possible.So where do we eat, where do we go out for a drink and where do we load food home by weight? Everything you need to know about new places opened around the country.
Tirza
The new born sister of Tel Aviv’s most revered restaurant. A wine bar by the OCD team in the Lewinsky Market . This new bar is was the dream of Raz Rahav and his staff, including Aviv Hajaj, the sommelier behind their huge wine list which includes over 250 labels of which 50 can be ordered by the glass! The vibe is casually sophisticated. It’s all about the wines.
Even the food menu was elaborated to bring out the wines’ aromas and notes and is reminiscent of the sister restaurant OCD: with a creative selection of bruschettas such as caramel bread with butter and caviar, bread with green smoothie and butter, cheese platter with olive oil jam, sashimi with horseradish ponzu and buckwheat. One thing to note is that waiters and kitchen staff are paid full salaries and patrons are not encouraged to leave tips. Makes total sense!
TIRZA TLV Wine Bar
Sun-Thu: 17:00-1:00
NO RESERVATIONS after 18:00
Mifgash Rambam
An instant cult Tel Aviv restaurant
Gourmet street food: The Basta restaurant (which was only recently ranked 14th on the list of the best restaurants in the Middle East ), opened the Mifgash Rambam – a great shawarma lovingly elaborated over the corona period.
The shawarma is made here from lamb and beef and is served in pita with chickpeas or in laffa with Tzatziki, or upside down, whichever you choose (NIS 28-45). Inside there is also a purple pickled onion and on the side there are some amazing chips that are worth the trip, for just 20 shekels. And just because there is Tzatziki, that doesn’t mean you need to give up on the Amba!
Mifgash Rambam HaBasta’s Shwarma
Rambam 3, Tel Aviv
Opening Hours :
Sunday to Thursday:
Sunday to Thursday: 11:00-24:00
Friday: 11:00-16:00
Closed on Saturday:00-24:00
Tammuz
Not a restaurant nor a deli… something else
Inside a beautiful restored building located in a semi-secret enclave in the heart of the city (in the space that housed the bookworm), a farm shop has opened that functions as a grocery and as a cafe, offering fine deli products, home-cooked or sit-down foods and a mere 26 types of organic vegetables delivered twice a day from Moshav Kfar Hanagid.
The venture is run by Yoav Nissani and Maayan Hershko from the Tony and Esther restaurant in the Lewinsky market (which is celebrating ten years right now). In Melamed’s farm, organic poultry is bred and is used in the dishes.
Chef Moran Burns’ menu – which as close as it gets to the “Farm to Table” concept you’ll find in the area – has chicken patties, lasagna, squid, roasted vegetables and more, and you can eat it all on the spot or take home weight.
In the deli department you will find fine local products such as labaneh, tahini from Hebron, cheeses from from local family owned farms, fresh rye breads, precious olive oils, rum farm cheeses and also Yuval’s fine grappa.
The interior space has little seating and the outdoors patio has chairs and benches that you can snack on. For the benefit of those in a hurry, a quick service window has been designed, facing the patio.
Cichukai
Japanese restaurant with a smile.
Cichukai offers small dishes and colorful drinks, all in an entertaining serving and in a happy atmosphere, for example Black Mamba – tuna tartare in honey and lime ginger vinaigrette, aiolo kosho and twill zigzag bubbles (65 shekels), piece in de snow – pickled salmon cubes in lime And chili on top of them peppery snow ponzo that freezes the palate and tongue (NIS 57), bite tartare in a milk bun – cloud buns stuffed with fish tartare filled with sauce (NIS 46-42) and more.
The restaurant has a space for events that is suitable for hosting small boutique events for 10-35 diners, with an open kitchen and an intimate hospitality experience.
Monday – Saturday: 18:00-22:30
Happy Hour, Monday to Thursday: 18:00-19:00
Friday Brunch: 12:00-15:30
10 Amiad, Flea Market, Jaffa.
Fed and Bev
Watch for this Tel Aviv restaurant. It’s the talk of town.
Levy has created a varied menu for the place that uses raw materials and techniques from all kinds of cuisines in the world and creates unsophisticated dishes such as Locus’ pineapple and king Siam dish with beer tempura and charred pineapple in red curry sauce (NIS 68), cigars filled with cheese and tomato gazpacho (NIS 42) or an Asian cucumber salad with vinaigrette sake (NIS 44). There are also cocktails in jars, glasses or halves, and on Fridays and Saturdays there is brunch.
Nahalat Binyamin 25 Tel Aviv ⎸ not kosher ⎸ book a table
Toto
Toto Restaurant has reopened after being closed for two years, since the Corona eruption. What at the time seemed like a logical step at the height of the crisis, turned out to be a spoken closure of one of the best restaurants in Tel Aviv.
Photos he uploaded on his Instagram account reveal a huge modern kitchen and also the menu retains Toto’s iconic dishes like chestnut gnocchi, spicy pizza, whole burnt eggplant, oxtail tortillas, and of course the famous Milfey dessert. Meanwhile, as befits an institution, its reopening excites many people in the culinary world.
Holy Chickens
Nothing says Jewish home food like grilled chicken. Holy Chickens is a US based fast food restaurant founded by Morgan Spurlock.
That’s the guy that did the documentary Super Size Me a few years back. Holy Chickens is the result of Morgan Spurlock’s follow up documentary about his quest to open a fast food restaurant franchise which Tomer Suissa and Ben Shaharbani did now took for Israel recently.
We love it!
Ibn Gvirol 20 Tel Aviv ⎸ 0543992399 ⎸ Kosher
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Ahan Thai
The list of Thai restaurants in Tel Aviv was joined a few weeks ago by Ahan Thai – a small, home-made restaurant by Chef Meidad Stabinski who worked for many years in various places in Thailand (including the Royal Palace) and returned to Israel during the Corona. The restaurant is based on grilled dishes and offers an unconventional menu in relation to the well-known Thai restaurants in Tel Aviv.
On the charcoal grill, Stabinski places meat, fish and seafood served with dips. There are also entrees and salads, and large curry dishes that can be shared, like yellow curry with chunks of fish alongside thin noodles; fish curry with vegetables, steamed rice and basil; or green curry with herbs, chicken and vegetables (40-88 shekels). The place is currently only open in the afternoon but is scheduled to open in the evening as well.
Lilienblum 21, Tel Aviv-Yafo ⎸
Middle East
Sabih is perhaps the dish that most characterizes the Middle East. Here it is served meticulously and the end result is perfect!
The dish has juicy and meaty eggplants, brown eggs cooked all night, potatoes roasted in the oven for hours until caramelized, a kitchen cooked for six hours, crispy falafel balls and more. The menu at Middle East includes two dishes in three different versions – sabih and falafel, in pita, laffe or in a bowl as a salad (NIS 25-36). There are also tempura chips (NIS 18).
Culinary entertainment complex DNA
DNA is a new food truck concept in the Azrieli Center in Tel Aviv that includes four different food trucks in one huge complex with a variety of different seating arrangements, two large bars, music and atmosphere. Each food truck has a different chef with a different cuisine and the patrons can sit at the bar and order from the various chefs, or simply approach and get something from each truck and sit in one of the 300 seats scattered throughout the complex.
The new venture is run by entrepreneur Ran Dor Chai and chef Yossi Shitrit, and is assisted by chef Thomas Zohar who is in charge of the Thai truck offering of various cooking styles with grilled dishes, soups, fries, curries, salads and stir-fries (NIS 56-72); Chef Gabriel Israel with the Chicanto food truck, serves handmade tacos made from corn or wheat, “Gordita” – the Mexican pita, drinks and authentic Mexican dessert (NIS 28-58).
Chef Jonathan Sharvit runs the MEZZO Fantastico food truck and offers dishes and flavors from southern Italy with freshly made paste and pizze (NIS 22-128). Last but not least, La Foux Foux food truck in an unusual French concept that takes a croissant and fills it with all sorts of goodies, sweet and savoury (NIS 28-40).
