israel · Year round · best Apr–Jun, Sep–Nov
The most underrated food city in the Mediterranean. The Norman, Hotel Montefiore, the Asian counters of Taizu and Topolopompo, the markets at Carmel and Levinsky. Tel Aviv, where the chefs are the most talented and the bills are the smallest.
Where to begin
The addresses I would send to a friend on the first visit. The full guide is below.
Boutique · 5★The 50-room townhouse on Nachmani — the city's flagship boutique hotel and the dining portfolio that holds the brief.
Hummus · JaffaThe Ali Karawan family hummus operation in Jaffa — the city's reference plate, open since 1959.
Wine bar · AllenbyEyal Shani's walk-in wine bar next to the Great Synagogue — the most dependable late evening in the city.
Boutique · 4★The 12-room townhouse on Montefiore Street — the city's first contemporary boutique, opened in 2008 and still the residential choice.
Mediterranean · The Norman HotelThe Norman's flagship dining room — the most polished hotel kitchen in the city, breakfast and dinner both the booking.
Pan-Asian · Northern Tel AvivSahar Vaaknin's pan-Asian dinner — the largest, loudest, and most consistently full Asian room in the city.
Boutique · 5★The restored 1866 colonial mansion in the American Colony of Jaffa — the city's most discreet five-star, 42 rooms.
All-day café · Ben YehudaThe American expat café on Ben Yehuda — the most reliable breakfast and laptop morning in the city.
Italian-Israeli · Jerusalem BoulevardThe Romano building's first-floor dining room — Italian-Israeli cooking, live music, dinner that runs late.
Hotels
Book the room.
Seafront · 5★The 282-room seafront hotel on the marina — the city's strongest pool deck and the rooftop bar with the longest sea view.
Authentic · the quiet rooms
Reserve the quiet dinner.
Kosher · MediterraneanThe city's reference kosher dining room — Mediterranean kitchen, profits to youth-at-risk training, since 2002.
Tasting menu · Raoul WallenbergRaz Rahav's seventeen-seat counter — the hardest booking in the city, three months ahead, no substitutions.
Turkish-Israeli · JaffaArik Tsodker's Jaffa room — Turkish-Israeli cooking from a charcoal grill, on the edge of the flea market.
Eyal Shani tasting · FlorentinEyal Shani's two-night-a-week tasting room — Tuesday and Wednesday only, the kitchen's most personal format.
Asian fire kitchen · FlorentinAvi Conforti's fire-driven Asian room — the most consistent open-kitchen dinner in the city since 2014.
Tripolitan · Jaffa flea marketBino Gabso's Tripolitan dining room in the Jaffa flea market — copper-pan cooking, three decades on the same corner.
Chef's table · The Drisco HotelTomer Tal's tasting menu at The Drisco — the most ambitious hotel kitchen in Jaffa, a single room and a single brief.
Seafood · Ben YehudaSharon Cohen's seafood and wine bar — the city's most consistent fish kitchen, open since 2008.
Asian terra · RothschildYuval Ben Neriah's pan-Asian tasting menu — the most travelled chef's table in the city and the discovery dinner of the trip.
Japanese · Rothschild and HiltonThe Japanese yakimono counter on Rothschild, with the sister location at the Hilton seafront.
Chef's kitchen · NogaHaim Cohen's modern Israeli kitchen — the chef's most personal room, dinner that holds the country's cooking in one menu.
Indochinese-French · Hotel MontefioreThe Indochinese-French dining room at Hotel Montefiore — the city's most consistent breakfast and the lunch booking that has not moved in fifteen years.
Levantine · FlorentinEyal Shani's Levantine dining room in Florentin — the third room of the chef's portfolio, market-driven and walk-in friendly.
Tables
Book the table.
All-day café · Neve TzedekThe Neve Tzedek garden café — courtyard breakfast in the city's prettiest neighbourhood, since 2002.