Sonia Getzel Shapira

Type: Cafe-Restaurant
English Menu: Yes
Average price: 40 NIS
Address: 1 Simta Almonit st.
Tel. number: 077-5261234

Behind the busy street of King George lies Sonia Getzel Shapira, which is a unique combination of a cafe, restaurant and a garden.

Sonia's menu has the normal cafe food - breakfast, sandwiches, salads and etc. We tried two salads which were quite OK. But their flag dish is probably the great Shakshuka - north African style fried eggs with tomato sauce and spices. They extend this one to the gourmet level and serve it with different toppings, among them you can find ground beef, mozarella and even spinach. We took the spicy Mexican one which was delicious. The shakshuka is served with a small salad and an amazing warm and fresh bun straight out of the oven (which can be ordered seperately - "Moroccan Bread").

How to get there
Simta Plonit connects to King George between Ha'Avoda and Rashi st. If you're coming from Allenby, walk on the right side and it should be on your right.

* Thanks for the tip N.!

Ha Nasih Hakatan

Type: Cafe Restaurant
Address: 3 Simta Plonit st. (Plonit alley)

"The Little Prince" cafe is was a cosy cafe-bookstore where you can sit and relax, read books, trade books, and basically do your things tranquilly.

Unfortunately, in Dec. 2010 The Little Prince cafe was closed. If you had the chance to visit there, you surely had a great time. We just hope that another cute spot like that will open in the future.

UPDATE: So HaNasaih Hakatan was closed down but now opened again on 18th Nachalat Binyamin st.! Good news!

New phone number of the place is 03-6299387
You can find the location here: http://g.co/maps/kat89

In the next opportunity we will check again the place. We left the picture above just to have a memory of the old place :)

Shine

Type: Cafe Restaurant
English Menu: Yes
Average price: 35-50 NIS
Address: 38 Shlomo Hamelekh st.

Young, hip, single and artistic Tel Avivians love to come to Shine to hang out, meet new interesting people or to have brainstorm sessions for work. It's tucked away in a quiet street, just perfect if you want to escape the bustling streets near the center but don't want to wander off too far away from it.

Except for the usual coffee, alcohol and other beverages, Shine also has a really good and healthy menu. The vegetarians enjoy the salads very much, but also the tofu curry with vegetables and wild rice. The curry has a delicate creamy flavor and they use a special version of tofu, named tempeh. Also the risotto with seafood is quite tasty. The risotto isn't the creamy version, instead it's savoury and made with a great broth of seafood and it has small shrimps and calamari mixed through it. The portions of each dish are quite big and can be easily shared, if you're both not big eaters.

How to get there
Walk on Dizengoff and turn right (facing north) to Frishman st. Go straight till the corner with Shlomo Hamelekh st.

Gilad and Daniel

Type: French Bistro
English Menu: Yes
Average price: 30 NIS (desserts)
Address: 300 Dizengoff st.

Gilad and Daniel is a cozy french bistro located in a quiet location on Dizengoff. It's famous for its special tarte tatin, which comes with apples or pears. Indeed a great treat! The tarte tatin is absolutely the best in Tel Aviv (runner up - Goocha's).

Also the creme brulee is wickedly good. This one can be topped only by the brulee of Dubnov 8.

Although we initially only went to Gilad ve Daniel for desserts, we found out that their Lyonnaise chicken with rice is to die for! The delicately grilled chicken breast is laid on a bed of luscious cream sauce with mushrooms, spring onions and chives. Wow!

How to get there
Go north on Dizengoff. It's close to the intersection with Yirmiyahu st. (Bus no. 5 can drop you on Nordau st. where from you can keep on going north).

Panini Lilush

Type: Italian, Cafe-Restaurant
English Menu: Yes
Average price: 40-50 NIS
Address: 73 Frishman st.

A cute small cafe restaurant located next to Rabin Square with a great variation of food, ranging from quality sandwiches to poshy risotto. Young Tel Avivians, with and without kids come here to have their Saturday brunch.

Panini is an Italian bread with fillings such as smoked goose breast (fantastic!), salmon or pastrami. Except for panini, they also serve salads and hot dishes, such squash soup, lentil soup, lasagna, pasta. The chicken soup with the Matza balls are very recommended. Less than that but still good is the peas soup.

An excellent dish is the seafood risotto with lychee and smoked goose breast, which although sounds off, is very special and highly recommended (see picture on the right). We haven't tried the pasta, but they are quite popular at Panini Lilush. The meat lasagna looks great, but the flavor is quite disappointing. It doesn't have the original meat lasagna flavor, instead they experimented with spices such cumin and cinnamon.

Also worth trying are the blintzes appetizers. These rolled pancakes with salmon, cream cheese filling or eggplant and cream cheese are served with a green salad and a thickly induced balsamic vinegar dressing that completes the meal with the zingyness.
The only dessert we tried was the chocolate souflet, which was a bit disappointing and tasted a bit like supermarket.

How to get there
Go from Rabin square on Frishman towards the sea. Located just next to the Masarik square (the northern end of King George st.)

Emilia

Type: Cafe-Restaurant, International food
English Menu: Yes
Average price: 45 NIS
Address: 88 Dizengoff st.

This modern-chique cafe bistro is named after Amelia Earhart, the first woman who flew solo across the Atlantic Ocean and her photos can be seen inside the cafe. They have a great terras which is always packed with bohemian Tel Avivians sipping on their cafe latte and eating a salad.

Emilia has the basic cafe food, like salads (Caesar, chicken, Israeli and roquefort); sandwiches (tuna, egg, chicken, salmon and etc.) served with a salad. Most people order the pasta special of the day, which is quite good. If you feel like eating something more substantial, order one of the main dishes. The grilled chicken breast with herbs is recommended - you get a good portion of succulent chicken breast with crispy fries. Between 12:00pm-5.00pm there's a business menu offer. You pay only for the main course and you get a salad or soup and a drink aside.

How to get there
Emilia is on Dizengoff a bit norther to the Dizengoff center. It's on the corner before the Dizengoff Square.

* Detail: every Friday there's a live band inside the cafe playing jazz music from 5:00pm-7:00pm.

Aroma

Type: Cafe-Restaurant, Sandwiches, Snack
English menu: Yes
Average price: 20-33 NIS
Address: All over the city

If you are looking for a good snack on the way to somewhere, or just wanna relax a bit from your busy day, Aroma can be a nice place for that. With more than 20 branches in the city you'll definitely hit one on your way.

Their menu has different kinds of sandwiches, salads, coffee and other drinks, all very good in quality and amount. The prices of the sandwiches are relatively high, but it gets a little bit cheaper if you order your meal to take out. The salads are a good bargain, especially the "Israeli salad" and the Tuna salad, which are served with two slices of bread and butter (you can add chicken or Halloumi cheese too if you like).
Aroma specialty is the "Ice Aroma" - sweet ice coffee latte (you can also order it in the chocolate version) which is a nice refreshment in the middle of a hot day.

How to get there

Just look for the Aroma sign and you will stumble across one crowded intersection in the city.

Cafe Tamar

Type: Cafe-Restaurant, Snack, Sweets
English Menu: No menu at all
Average price: 18-25 NIS
Address: 57 Sheinken st.

Although it's not really a restaurant, the legendary Cafe Tamar can't be left unmentioned amongst all the others. Situated in the poshy and bustling Sheinken street, Cafe Tamar is runned by an old excentric lady called Sarah Stern, since the British Mandate. It used to attract all Tel Aviv celebrities here and today some still come.

Sarah will serve you her specialty: a bagel with cheese with olives and mashed tomatoes on the side. They also serve a good medium sized plate of Israeli salad (chopped cucumbers, tomatoes, onions and parsley) and sweet pastries, like popseed cake, croissants and different kind of cookies.

How to get there
It's on Sheinken street on the intersection with Ahad Ha'am (on the side of the street which is closer to Rothschild blvd).

* Detail: on the wall behind the counter you will find caricatures of Sarah, made by the famous caricaturist Yaakov Zeev Farkash, who made caricatures and cartoons for 40 years in the Israeli Ha'Aretz newspaper. The fabulous drawings of "Sarah gone on vacation" were made every year at Passover holiday.

Benedict

Type: Cafe-Restaurant, Breakfast Restaurant
English menu: Yes
Average price: 45-50 NIS
Address: 171 Ben Yehuda st., 29 Rothschild Blvd.

Why are all restaurants meant only for lunch and dinner? So Benedict tries to answer this question by providing a new concept: breakfast restaurant. They have around 10 rich breakfast sets which vary from each other, but they are all good. For a lighter breakfast you can have muesli, sandwiches or a shakshouka.

One great breakfast type, which the waiter will probably also recommend on, is the "Eggs Benedict": Two toasted brioches topped with poached eggs and Hollandaise. This New York style breakfast is delectable and the yummy pleasure will linger on for days. The best of this type is the "Florentin" - served with creamy spinach sauce, or the "Benedict Joe" - served with sweet-savory minced-meat topping.

Along with the breakfast you get a free drink, and a basket of warm buns with spreads which can be refilled all the time. To the breakfast you can add a lot: cheeses, bacon, sausages, spreads and etc., so you can create your own special breakfast.

Although just serving breakfasts, the place is open 24/7, and as usual for Tel Aviv it is quite full on Friday and Saturday lunch time and you'll have to queue up.

How to get there
Ben Yehuda 171 - Northern part of Ben Yehuda, next to the intersection with Jabotinsky st.
Rothschild 29 - At the beginning of Rothschild, next to intersection with Allenby.

Dizi

Type: Cafe-Restaurant, Vegetarian

English menu: Yes

Average price: 30-45 NIS

Address: Under Dizengoff square, next to the gas station, in front of the cinema

There are so many cafe restaurants here in Tel Aviv, that you must differentiate from others to be noticed. Dizi did this by combining the following services: DVD rental, laundry self-service, wifi internet and food - the ideal scene for the bachelors of Tel Aviv. This vegetarian cafe-restaurant has an easy going atmosphere and tasty vegetarian food.
The menu contains hot dishes, salads and salad-sandwiches (sandwiches stuffed with salad). The beetroot salad-sandwich is great. We also suggest to order the quinoa salad. For the hot dishes, the tofu balls with wheat and pungent Asian sauce is very much recommended and also the delicious lasagna with spinach and ricotta cheese. Who says that vegetarian food can't be tasty?!

How to get there

Go to the Dizengoff square, and go down the stairs where the cinema is located.

* Tip: When you order a salad-sandwich, tell them to put the salad aside and not on the sandwhch, otherwise you'll be eating soggy bread.

Roladin

Type: Bakery, Sweets, Snack
English menu: No need
Address: See Below

There are just as many bakeries in Tel Aviv as there are cafes. The leading chain of bakeries is Roladin and their pastries are considered to have the highest quality. They are known for the savory pastries, like the quiches, but even more famous for their sweets - croissants, cakes, cookies and etc.

If you hit one of the cafe-restaurant version, you can also take some cafe food, like salads, pasta or sandwiches. But more often you will find some strolling tourists in Tel Aviv stopping by to have a coffee and one of their special desserts.

How to get there

Roladin has couple of branches:

1) 50 Dizengoff st. (on the block of Dizengoff center)

2) 45 Allenby

3) 24 Iben Gvirol

4) Azrieli center

* Tip: If you are happen to be in Israel around Hanukkah holiday, don't dare to miss their Sufgania - traditional pastry for Hanukkah. Don't let the long line of people scare you either.

The Streets

Type: Cafe-Restaurant, International food
English menu: Yes
Average price: 25-50 NIS
Address: 70 King George st.

The Streets is a popular cafe on King George st. and is open 24/7. They have a cosy terras where you enjoy the streetlife of Tel Aviv, and Tel Avivians like going there to see others and to be seen. A lot of laptop owners come to The Streets to do their thing and they often settle on the second floor where you have a cosy and quiet atmoshpere.

Now, how about the food? It's definitely one of the best places to eat high quality cafe food, touching the restaurant level. The salads are made of good fresh ingredients and the portions aren't small either, just the way we like it. The tuna salad is definitely a keeper. Also the mangold wurzel and cauliflower patties with yoghurt, the salmon with wild rice, the chicken escalope with creamy mustard sauce and the rice with meatballs and are highly recommended.

How to get there
On the corner of Dizengoff and Hanevi'im st. It's a bit norther of Dizengoff center when walking on King George.

La Goffre

Type: Cafe-Restaurant, Waffles
English menu: Yes
Average price: 30-45 NIS
Address: 84 Iben Gvirol

Craving for something sweet but lasting? Go to La Goffre for an amazing Belgian waffle (the word is derived from the word 'gauffre' which means "waffle" in French). You can add as much ingredients as you want (and pay for it too) on top of the already great tasting waffle. They have toppings like voluptuous butterscotch, delicious chocolate (white, milk, dark), cream, vanilla ice cream, sweetened pecan nuts (very much recommended), chocolate sauce, cream cheese, halva, ice cream and etc.

You can literally go bananas with the toppings, but it is recommended to take it easy - less is more. The best combination is the nutella spread, bananas, pecan nuts, melted white chocolate sprinkles and a scoop of ice cream.

Before the waffle, you can pick one of their savory dishes, of which the quiches are quite good. But this waffle is so amazingly good that you might want to order a second one even before you finished the first... but instead of getting yourself nauseous, just come back some other day. Maybe on the last day before your flight from Tel Aviv.

How to get there
On Iben Gvirol next to Rabin square.