Itzik and Ruti

Type: Sandwiches
English Menu: No
Average price: 18 NIS
Address: 53 Sheinkin st.

Itzik and Ruti sandwich place is one of the mythical places in Tel Aviv that everybody knows and probably ate there. This friendly couple report for duty everyday (Sun.-Fri) at 05:00 to fill the demand of the masses that swoop in, and they close around 12:00pm when most of the food is over.

Itzik and Ruti serve the best sandwiches in Tel Aviv. You choose the size and type of the bread (whole wheat, ciabatta etc.) and fill it with one of their magical fillings such as eggplants, egg salad, avocado, tuna salad etc., and some vegetables if you like. Simple, but so good!

How to get there

Turn to Sheinkin from King George and just go stright all the way to the other end of the street. It will be on your left.

Click here to see walking directions on the map (from King George).

Philippe Pizza

Type: French Pizza
English Menu: Yes
Average price: 47 NIS small pizza/ 76 NIS big pizza
Address: 20 Carlebach st. (next to Iben Gvirol)
Tel. number: 03-5100904

Philippe Pizzeria is a new concept of gourmet pizza parlour, beautifully designed and well located in the Carlebach, Laskov and Ibn Gvirol st. area, near the bars and night clubs. Philippe's pizza menu, which is labeled as "French" has 2 dozens kind of pizzas (including specials written on the chalkboard behind the counter) which are topped with different ingredients, ranging from vegs, cheeses, to pork, beef, mutton, goose and fish, including salmon. The innovative idea behind Philippe Pizza is - it's all charcoal grilled pizza (and as a an evidence you can see the stumps along the wall which are being used by guests for short reviews).

We took the Moussaka pizza, which is topped with a great beef and mutton layer, and served with an eggplant and rocket salad on it (inspired by the Moussaka from the Balkan). The second one we took was the Oriental pizza, which is supposed to have a spicy flavor, with Merguez sausages. This one was a bit disappointing and too regular, but still good.

How to get there
To reach Philippe Pizza you'll have to walk to the beginning of Iben Gvirol st., where it intersects with Carlebach and Laskov.

Click here to view location on the map and walking directions from Dizengoff st. 

Sirocco Pizza

Type: Pizza
English Menu: No menu
Average price: 10 NIS (per slice)
Address: 23 King George st.

If you were looking for a great local pizza place, Sirocco Pizza is the place for you. Seems maybe too local and dull, but their pizza is surprising each time.
How do you order? You get a basic pizza for 9 NIS, which can be topped with: corn, mushrooms, olives, onions, roasted pepper, tuna, anchovies, salted cheese. If you choose 1 topping, you pay 11 NIS per slice and for 2 toppings you pay 12 NIS.
Now we can just recommend on the combinations:
1. Onions & mushrooms
2. Anchovies & onions
3. Plain Pizza (!)

The place is open every day until late in the night (except on Friday night and Saturday afternoon), which makes the place a snack spot for the bon vivants.

How to get there
Go south on King George. It's on the right side of the street on the corner with Ha Macabi street, close to the intersection with Allenby.

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.

Malabi Dajani

Type: Dessert, Middle Eastern food
English menu: No
Average price: 11 NIS
Address: 94 Yerushalaim Blvd. in Jaffa

Malabi is a popular dessert in Israel which is made of milk and cream, jellified with cornstarch, and then sweetened on top with rose syrup, and some add nuts and coconut.

Maybe the best malabi you'll eat is in Malabi Dajani pit, which is running for three generations now and keeps attracting dozens of fans which are all addicted to his secret and magical recipe.
As Tel Avivians do, you can have the malabi for the finale of your hummus excursion at Abu-Hassan.

How to get there
Take bus 25 and go down at Jerusalem Blvd. ("Shderot Yerushalayim") 96 - on the corner of Erlich st. If you're coming from Abu-Hassan, go back to the boulevard, and then go the same direction of the bus you got there with until you get there.

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.

Israeli Pizza - Agvania and Tony Vespa

Tel Aviv has good local pizzas. We picked two special pizza chains in Tel Aviv.

Pizza Agvania
This means "tomato pizza" in Hebrew. This chain is known for their thin pizza, topped with different vegetables and tomato sauce. It's quite yummy and worth a shot (one slice is around 13-15 NIS).

Branches:
1) Sheinkin street (Sheinkin is next to the intersection of King George and Allenby)
2) Dizengoff Center (one of the top floors, next to the path between the two parts of the mall)
3) Azrieli center
4) Down on the left next to the Dizengoff Square, if you're heading towards the beach
5) 88 Iben Gvirol (in front of London Ministore)

Tony Vespa
Tony Vespa pizzas are long and rectangular shaped pizzas. You choose the size of the slice you want and pay according to the weight (it's a about 20 NIS for a satisfying slice). This way you can try many different toppings on your slice - vegetarian, cheeses, coldcuts, bacon and etc. Some pizzas are tasty but some of them lack the edgy bite. We recommend on the vegi mushroom pizza with toppings like vegetables and arugula, or the cheesy pizza. This place open until late in the night and Israelis like to go there after a night of clubbing.

Branches:
1) 140 Rothschild Blvd (across to Habima theater)

2) 267 Dizengoff st. (northern part of Dizengoff)

Hertzel

Type: Sandwich, Local eatery

English menu: No need
Average price: 20 NIS
Address: 53 King George st.

You can easily pass this small sandwich place without even having noticing it. Hertzel - the owner - renovated to a modern look a while ago and has a sign hanging outside now, but you'll probably still skip the place if you don't know about it.

Don't be misled by the appearence. Hertzel sells good home made sandwhices, made according to your wish. It varies from cold cuts, yellow cheeses, cream cheeses, white cheeses, eggplant salad to homemade omelet with vegetables. Hertzel isn't stingy on you with the ingredients, so you can count on it that you'll get a stuffed and filling sandwich.

The 'backyard' is being used as the seats of the house, mind that it's not very luxurious but it's clean and good enough to sit and relax.

How to get there
It's just outside the exit of west side of Dizengoff center on King George. Go 20 meters right towards Bugrashov st. and you'll find it.

Vaniglia Ice Cream

Type: Ice cream

English menu: No need
Average price: 18 NIS for 2 scoops
Address: 98 Iben Gvirol st., 33 Bograshov st., Dizengoff center (bottom floor); 267 Dizengoff st.; 22 Ishtori HaParchi st (Basel Compound)

Vaniglia probably has the best ice-cream in Tel Aviv and you will want to taste everything there - which is quite possible considering their vast flavors assortment. The combinations such as camomille with vanilla or vanilla ginger are just an example on how adventurous they can get. But besides wild experiences, highly recommended are the fruit sorbet flavors, such as the mango, melon and plum. These are the best in this joint. If you don't mind the calories and you're not afraid to go all-the-way creamy, try the pistachio, chocolate or the yoghurt with pine nuts.

If you want eat in you can go inside to a small, airconditioned and quiet niche. You can also get ice cream takeout - A container of 1 kg is 77 NIS and you can choose 5-6 flavors.

How to get there
Iben Gvirol -  Iben Gvirol just a bit further from Rabin square when you face north. For the Bograshov branch, go towards the sea on the right side, it should be somewhere in the middle. For Dizengoff branch just go north, it's where Dizengoff st. intersects with Yirmiyahu. Basel - take right on Basel st. from Dizengoff, than go straight till you hit the cafe's area, then take right. 

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.

Burekas Amikam

Type: Snack, Middle Eastern food

English menu: No menu
Average price: 15 NIS
Address: 21 Iben Gvirol

Open: everyday 24hrs, Friday closed in the afternoon and Saturday open at night.

Burekas Amikam sells Burekas - That is, phyllo dough pastry puffs stuffed with cheese, potato and vegetables, served with pickled cucumber, hard boiled egg and a spicy sauce. The result is just delicious and eating it is a complete relish (we recommend on the cheese and spinach one).

New burekas are baked all the time, that's why sometimes you have to wait a bit. But it's definitely worth the wait. It is a great mid-day snack, or after a night of clubbing and drinking (as Israelis clubbers do).

How to get there
It's next to corner of Iben Gvirol by Dizengoff. You can go up on Dizengoff (with your back to the Dizengoff square) and then go down till you get to Iben Gvirol. Go couple of meters to the right and you are there.