Tel Aviv — The White City Table

Nineteen diners at a circular chef's table. Raz Rahav's 19-course blind tasting — no menu, no choice, total surrender to one of the most original culinary minds in the Middle East. World's 50 Best Discovery.

Chef Yuval Ben Neriah's Asia Terranean concept — India, China, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam filtered through an Israeli lens. Tel Aviv's most consistently brilliant sharing-menu restaurant. Book weeks ahead.

Chef Gal Ben Moshe — who earned a Michelin star in Berlin — returns home to the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. Levantine technique, Israeli produce, the most serious wine list in the city. The definitive power table.

Chef Ran Shmueli's landmark in a 150-year-old Templar building. Spain, France, Italy, Lebanon and Israel share the menu — unpretentious for the price, seasonal to the point of obsession. Tel Aviv's most reliable date-night room.

Chef Sharon Cohen's twenty-year-old institution, now relocated to the Montefiore district. Catalan technique on Israeli fish — the city's finest seafood restaurant, and a first-date room of genuine warmth.

The courtyard garden of a beautifully restored Neve Tzedek building — tall trees, flowering jasmine, white linen. Since 2007, Dallal has been Tel Aviv's most romantic table. Say it here and mean it.

Steps from the Mediterranean on Charles Clore Beach — mezze, fresh-caught fish, bouillabaisse served to the sound of the sea. The breakfast here on a Friday morning is a Tel Aviv rite of passage.

Eyal Shani's intimate bar-restaurant with a changing seasonal menu and the open kitchen you want to watch. The most electric atmosphere in the city — for birthdays that begin civilised and end loudly.

Chef Yossi Shitrit sublimates Israeli and Middle Eastern culinary culture into an immersive fine-dining experience. The table you bring clients who claim to know what good food is — and change their minds.

Chef Orel Kamahi's meticulously prepared menu — seasonal raw materials from Israel and abroad, combined with personal precision. The quiet room in Tel Aviv that rewards those who eat alone and pay attention.

Eyal Shani's all-day institution near the Levinsky market — the most democratic fine-casual table in the city. Sardines, cauliflower, whole roasted everything. For teams who need to bond and eat well.

The organic-vegan room in Neve Tzedek that makes even devoted carnivores question their choices. Farm-sourced produce, serious natural wine, and the most beautiful courtyard for a lunch that stretches into evening.

Eyal Shani's globe-conquering pita concept — now in Paris, Vienna, New York — began here. The roasted cauliflower in a pita is an act of culinary philosophy. Solo lunch here is one of the city's great pleasures.

The neighbourhood bistro of Neve Tzedek — market ingredients, honest wine, tables that fill with locals every Friday. The birthday dinner for when the group is mixed and the mood needs to stay easy.

Ariel Rosenthal's falafel and shawarma institution on the corner of King George — the standard by which all others are judged. Since 2001. Every single time, the best falafel you have ever had.

Tel Aviv's answer to a Roman osteria — handmade pasta, serious Barolo, and a room full of people who know exactly what they're doing. The deal table for those whose business runs on Italian standards.

The Tel Aviv beach restaurant that actually deserves its views — mezze and fresh fish on the sand at old Jaffa port. For birthdays where the dress code is "just came from the sea" and the sunset does the work.

The Tel Aviv bistro that has been doing schnitzel, liver, and black-board specials since before anyone called it "farm-to-table." The team dinner room where nobody argues about the menu because everyone already knows what to order.

The best Thai restaurant in Israel — authentic, ingredient-driven, with the heat adjusted upward by cooks who mean it. Tel Aviv's team dinner option when the group has already tried everything Israeli.

The dining room of Tel Aviv's most beautiful boutique hotel — an Eclectic-era building with the service that foreign visitors require and the neighbourhood setting that locals respect. Business without theatre.