Tel Aviv is known for the good and healthy food. You see a lot of vegetarian restaurants everywhere. I’m not a vegetarian but my sister is, so for her it was wahala here. I like to eat the local food wherever I am. In my opinion it is the best to eat, fresh, with ingredients that grow close, support hopefully the local people and eat something different than back home and of course to get inspirations for my Food blogs, like the Shakshuka and Hummus!!! In this travel blog tips, information and inspirations on Food and Restaurants in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Bring water with you during the day it can be hot in Tel Aviv. I suggest bringing your own Chilly bottle or owning other plastic bottle which you can refill. Help the environment and keep the beach clean please!!! All restaurants serve you free water with your meal order, sometimes even with mint and lemon.
Hummus & Falafel
If you think of local food in the Middle East you get to hummus. Hummus main ingredient is chickpeas. It is so yummy, simple and very healthy and filling; also tasty in combination with bread, olives and other salads. See my hummus and grilled vegetables recipe I made after I came back from Tel Aviv. Falafel is also made of chickpeas or other beans. You can find small shops in Tel Aviv where they sell the Falafel in bread with salads and sauce. In the Carmel market we found a couple. But in every local restaurant falafel and hummus is on the menu and the good thing it is affordable. You get your protein via the beans, so no need for extra meat or fish. We had a good local meal in a trendy Israeli Bistro at Bograshov St 35 called “Olive Korner” the food and the service are recommended. Next to the tasty hummus plate you see a one big falafel and some spread made of eggplants.
We had a great meal for lunch at “The Old Man and the Sea” in the Old Harbor of Jaffa. I will recommend you this restaurant for sure; for 55 ILS per person (~15 USD) we had only the starter as lunch, but this was more than enough. You will get unlimited bread, hummus, falafel and other 20 vegetable salads! Healthy food and service was good (compared to the rest of the restaurants we experienced later……..). We could not handle a main course afterwards, but went for the tea with local sweets. The view is very nice at a the harbor with all the fisher boats across the restaurant, great setting. We were here for lunch but I think it could get crowded for dinnertime.
Juice
In Tel Aviv you can get the really good juices!! They sell them in all kind of shops or stands, in the market or in a trendy healthy juice bar. The price is depending on the season, for us unfortunately it was not the pomegranate season, but the orange juice was very much available. For us the juice was often a liquid lunch in the heat of the day, when we were not that hungry.
Herbs
In the Carmel market the fresh, dried and herb smell was enormous. I love it! I bought the herbs cumin, turmeric and pepper. I use these a lot in my cooking so it cheaper and fresher than back home. My kitchen is now smells like the Carmel Market!!!
Cocktails
The first and the last night we drank a cocktail at the beach. “La La Land” at Gordon Beach is the perfect location for that. We got this tip from a local before we left to Tel Aviv but we ran into the place by coincidence when strolling along the beach. In Tel Aviv you can find a lot of cocktail bars. We had dinner in the “Concierge” restaurant, the food and service was not to great, but when we saw the cocktails passing by we realized it was more of a cocktail bar. The glasses and names looked spectacular. So if you are in for an original cocktail this is the place to be. We preferred the cocktail with our feet in the sand in combination with a sunset!
