Israel
 

Hi.. I am going to Israel for two weeks the end of this month. I would very much like to get some tips on restaurants for Tel Aviv and Jerusalem - places where the locals go. Am not interested in five star restaurants, but just good decent food where the Israelis go to. Also secret or out of the way places to go while we are there. We are also going to Eilat and Petra if you have suggestion there as well. Leaving April 23rd. Thanks for your help.

Where will you be staying in Tel-Aviv ? What type of food do you like ? kosher ?
The Tel-Aviv edition of "Time Out" magazine has a good restaurant guide:
http://digital.timeout.co.il/english/

Hi When we visited Petra a few years ago, we ate in the restaurants in Wadi Musa. We stayed at the Movenpick and found the food ordinary. There are several restaurants and some have touts outside. We picked a couple of restaurants and ate the local food. It is supposed to be beduoin and was very good.

In Tel Aviv we ate pizza a couple times and went to the Old Pier area. There are many seafood restaurants there both kosher and non kosher. We've eaten at the Cafe Nimrod there for sandwiches several times.

One of the frustrations I have with finding "good decent food where the Israelis go to." is that they suggest places that I can duplicate at home (in the U.S)! For example, many locals rave about Benedict in Tel Aviv ,an all day breakfast place. It's unique (or at least one of the first of its kind)in Israel, but didn't seem special to me. When I was on a business trip in Israel a few years ago, my colleagues were excited about the best burger and sushi places in the area. If you're looking for kosher food, that could be really exciting to have those choices, but for non-kosher food, you might have enough of those types of restaurants where you live and often quite a bit cheaper. I try to stick to places with really good green salads or grill restaurants where you order skewers of meat and you get unlimited 10 or more types of salads (eggplant, carrot, cabbage etc) and fresh laffa (like large flat pitas) for a small amount extra.

I agree with looking at the listings in Time Out as it covers food trends really well. You can look at back issues from the link mbgg gave you by just changing the number in the web address you get through the link(right now it's up to issue 69) The weekly Hebrew version of the magazine has better food coverage articles like best ice cream or chocolate, market food finds, etc)

I'm an Israeli tour guide that leads also people in Jordan... In Tel Aviv I recommend Itzik Hagadol ("Big Itzik") at the entrance to Jaffa. This is a gread middle-eastern restaurant. Another option is Abulafia, also in Jaffa.
In Petra I try to avoid the tourist restaurants or hotel buffets, and prefer to eat at the street barbeque restauarants at the center of Wadi Musa town, near the central mosque. There is a great bakary at the corner where you can buy great Ma'amul date cookies and frehly baked bread.

Some places in TLV you should check out:
Pizza - my favorite is HaPizza at Bugrashov and Pinsker
Sushi - just across the street on Bugrashov a place called Moon
Burgers - a close competition between two chains: Agadir and Moses
Chocolate - a coffee shop chain dedicated to chocolate: Max Brenner
Oldie but goodie: Dixie - don't miss the
A bit more upscale but not too expensive - Brasserie at Rabin Square (Ibn Gvirol st.)
Jaffa Flea Market - At night becomes a great place to eat, drink and wind down. Tons of wine bars and restaurants.