Rauf et Atina

Type: Fish restaurant
English Menu: Yes

Average price: 75 NIS (Fish and salads)
Address: 81 Kedem st., Jaffa
Tel. number: 03-6818793

One reason to go to Jaffa's to eat is for their fish restaurants. We were looking for a good one and we fell in love with this Jaffa look-and-feel fish restaurant (and the local presence also hints that).

The traditional way in these fish restaurants is to order the fish and with it you'll get plenty of yummy mezes - such as: humus, tehina, fries, eggplant salad, pickled salad, cucumber salad, carrot salad, olives and pickles, parsley salad, tabbouleh salad, spicy tomato salsa etc. You'll also get some bread and pita and everything can be refilled all the time. Watch out though, do not fill your stomach before the fish is served! (a common mistake of beginners).

The fish (a whole fish, not a fillet) can be grilled or deep fried (grilled is a better choice). We took a sea bream and a European Seabass, and enjoyed the latter more. By the way, you can easily share a fish dish with two persons, but one person will have to pay 30NIS for the salads. This is still very much worth it.

In Kedem st. you have some other famous fish restaurants, including the nearby Hazaken ve hayam (the Old Man and the Sea). Although it's quite popular and offers more salads then Rauf et Atina, we think is less in quality and less tasty. If you are a looking for another fish restaurant (which is also not that far into the margins of Jaffa) try Abdu Hadayag.

How to get there

We are sorry to say that we didn't find any convenient way to reach this street with public transportation. A taxi from Tel Aviv center should be about 40-45 NIS.

Click here to view location on the map (for driving instructions, use the map's 'directions' feature).

Manta Ray

Type: Seafood Restaurant
English Menu: Yes
Average price: 120 NIS
Address: Alma beach, Tel Aviv promenade
Tel. number: 03-5174773

You might have heard of Manta Ray from the Tel Avivians as either the best fish restaurant in town or as the restaurant 'where Madonna went to eat when she was here'. Nevertheless, the food here is very good. And so is the view; you look out to the sea and you are literally just one step away from the beach.

Although we like fish restaurants like Rauf et Atina in Jaffa, Manta Ray is of a different league. Manta Ray serves the fish gourmet style and you can tell by the flavor. We took a sea locus (Golliath Groupe) which was absolutely great, and a fish kebab, which disappointed us a bit (sorry but no pics for that).

People like this place so much because of its variety of mezes (18 NIS each), ranging from vegi dishes to fish salads. We tried the Tzatziki (Greek cucumber and yogurt salad) and the Mullet Ceviche - both were yum.

There's another reason to go to Manta Ray: their breakfast! Don't worry, it's not that you have to eat fish in the morning (although we did). Manta Ray's breakfast is enormously popular, to the extent that you have to make reservations way beforehand. Once you get there, you have a variety of breakfast meals on Manta Ray's menu: shakshuka, salads, French toast, pancakes and so on. We got the breakfast for two: 2 eggs (scrambled, omelet or sunny side up), chopped Israeli salad, unlimited bread, buns, scones and muffins, jam and cheese spreads and two freshly squeezed orange juice. We also added the Mullet Ceviche, which had a very special soury taste. It was more kind of a lunch than breakfast for us, we were so stuffed!

How to get there

You can either take bus no. 25 and go down on Charles Clore park, or just bike all the way south on the promenade (while the endless sea lies on your right). The restaurant is in a cement hut.

* Recommendation: Do some tummy rubbing afterwards on the beach next to it.