Eight must-try restaurants to look out for in Tel Aviv in 2025

This a new seafood tapas restaurant, offers a Spanish-inspired dining experience in a seafront watersports community centre.

Founded by well-known Tel Aviv restaurateurs Chef Guy Gamzu, Mosh Budnik and Itzik Hangel. Chef Yarden Shay has curated a menu featuring fresh fish and seafood with Spanish influences. The menu includes raw fish dishes such as sashimi and carpaccio as well as classic Spanish dishes such as Tortilla de Patatas. Guests can choose a casual meal with small tapas dishes featuring a variety of flavors or a high-end, elegant dining experience.

There’s a spacious central bar, where visitors can enjoy music and food while watching the chefs at work in the open kitchen, and an open deck facing onto the sea.

Address: 3 Herbert Samuel St., Tel Aviv / Instagram: Chacoli Tlv

Eyal Shani’s Malka (new location)

After seven successful years at Beit Asia, celebrity Israeli Chef Eyal Shani’s restaurant Malka has relocated to Azrieli Town. Originally opened in 2018, Malka’s menu is based on seasonal, locally sourced ingredients straight from the market. What sets Malka apart is not only its exceptional food but also its social mission, providing employment opportunities for at-risk youth. These young staff members, working alongside professional chefs, are an integral part of Malka’s dining experience.

146 Menachem Begin Road, Tel Aviv  Malka.com

Photo: Ariel Efron[Missing Credit]

Saka-Ba

Head to Levinsky Market for Osaka nightlife vibes at Japanese bar — Saka-Ba. The venue is the brainchild of well-known Israeli restaurateur Asaf Menachem (owner of Men-Ten-Ten restaurant), and Osaka-born Chef Masaya, an Osaka native whom Menachem met during his time in Japan.

Inspired by traditional izakayas — informal Japanese sake bars — the menu offers a selection of small dishes paired with a variety of Japanese alcohol, including 17 types of sake, shochu, whisky, and speciality cocktails. The design is inspired by Japanese culture, including a transparent smoking booth in the centre of the space.

On the  menu are classic Japanese delicacies such as niku sashimi, mini tomatoes in Japanese brine, and asahi maki (a fish roll wrapped in spicy cucumber). (Not kosher)

Saka-Ba Zevulun 8, Tel Aviv

Koko Neko

In Florentin, you’ll find Japanese namer and soufflé pancake restaurant, Koko Neko. Designed in a traditional Japanese style, Koko Neko is the brainchild of well-known Israeli restaurateur Dudi Afriat and Misato Behar, a Japanese chef who moved to Israel 12 years ago after marrying an Israeli.

The menu features three classic ramen varieties alongside handmade gyoza, soba noodle salad, and flavorful Japanese appetizers like Chuka seaweed salad and pickled shiitake mushrooms. All dishes are based on traditional Japanese recipes and authentic ingredients. (Not kosher)

Koko Neko: Florentin 5, Tel Aviv 

ZO

A new 120-seat Asian restaurant on Rothschild Boulevard’s vibrant Soho district serving Thai, Japanese and Vietnamese cuisines, led by one of Israel’s most successful Asian chefs, Don Tran.

As well as sushi, a variety of sashimi and nigiri options are also available and main courses include Black cod and tofu steak. There’s also a carefully designed wine menu and cocktail menu. (Not kosher)

Zo: Rothschild Blvd 11, Tel Aviv
 

Dé FACTO

Dé FACTO is housed in the city’s Poli Urban Hotel, offering a fine dining and live music in a 1920s Paris-inspired ambiance. There’s also a creative cocktail menu. Chef Hai Tzarum’s modern interpretation of Yemeni cuisine, uses locally sourced ingredients and innovative culinary techniques. Signature dishes include sea fish tartare.

The bar offers cocktails created by mixologist Ziv Edelstein which combine classic inspirations with modern techniques. Think olive oil za’atar Negroni or a celery Gimlet.

The venue is open all day from brunch to through evening cocktails and evening fine dining atmosphere at night. (Not kosher)

De Facto: Poli Urban Hotel, 7 Nes Tziona St., Tel Aviv 

Gila & Nancy

This glamorous bar (Nancy) and restaurant (Gila) in the Play Hotel near Gan Hahashmal are from a partnership between Eyal Shani and the queer party collective PAG. They are named after Gila Goldstein and Nancy Schneider, two of Israel’s first transgender pioneers, who inspired freedom and self-expression for the LGBTQ+ community in Israel and beyond.

Expect elegance, beauty and glamour plus a helping of underground culture, fashion, music, nightlife, and queer expression. Gila serves up Shani’s spin on classic hotel dishes, in a decadent cabaret atmosphere, featuring surprise performances by Tel Aviv’s fiercest drag queens; while Nancy, located in the restaurant’s basement, is an elegant yet inviting bar with live, DJ-led music.

Gila and Nancy:  8 Levontin St., Tel Aviv (PLAY HotelP

Rova Alef

Set within the beautifully restored historic Elkonin Hotel in Tel Aviv, Rova Aleph has been developed by acclaimed chef Evytar Malka and partner Yonatan Greenberg. Inspired by Malka’s childhood memories in Ashdod the menu offers a relaxed yet sophisticated kosher Mediterranean dining experience.

Much of the food is cooked over a blazing charcoal grill including fish, hand-made pastas and fire-roasted vegetables. Think pizzetta with brown butter, anchovies, and tomatoes; “Red on Red" sashimi: tuna, blood orange aguachile (aka ceviche or cured fish) orange salad, olives, and harissa; Lima (aka butter) bean cacio e pepe and ricotta shishbarak (little ravioli style dumplings) with charred eggplant (aubergine) and yogurt

The restaurant features an open kitchen, wood-fired Josper oven and outdoor area.

Rova Alef: Elkonin Hotel, 9 Lilienblum Street, Tel Aviv