5 Best Restaurants in Neveh Tzedek, Tel Aviv

Inside a beautifully restored historic building, this bistro has a rarefied atmosphere and an on-the-premises bakery that turns out a luscious array of French-style pastries. The breakfast menu highlights some of the baked delights, including smoked-salmon croissants and the indulgent French toast sandwich with fruit, ricotta cheese, and maple syrup. An enclosed patio, with its wrought-iron tables and chairs, is a lovely place to enjoy a late-afternoon coffee among a mixed crowd of businesspeople, surfers, and families. The executive lunch is a good value while the dinner menu offers more extensive (and significantly higher-priced) fish and meat options.

Israel has the highest population of vegans per capita, so it's impressive that Meshek Barzilay started blazing the plant-based trail long before farm-to-table eating became trendy. Tucked away on a quiet, secluded street in Neve Tzedek, the restaurant serves only locally sourced, organic, plant-based ingredients. The original restaurant was founded in 2002 by Merav Barzilay in the small agricultural community of Moshav Yarkona. A few years later, she opened Meshek Barzilay in central Tel Aviv. The produce may not come from her own backyard any more but Barzilay continues to source directly from a meticulously selected group of Israeli farms and producers who deliver daily. Best-selling dishes include the mushroom, tofu, and lentil veggie burger and the beetroot gnocchi.

Tucked away in a quiet corner of the city, this small, elegant bistro specializes in fine cuts of expertly prepared meat. It's purported to be the only place in Israel where you can enjoy a real porterhouse steak. And for dessert? That depends on the time of year. Tangy strawberry-vanilla pie is a winter specialty, while fig-vanilla pie is a summer favorite. The building is historic, yet the interior is contemporary, with Mediterranean tile floors in geometric patterns.

Few restaurants have made a splash on the Tel Aviv dining scene as big as Popina, Chef Orel Kimchi's trendy Neve Tzedek eatery. The menu is divided into cooking techniques—cured, steamed, baked, roasted, and slow-cooked—and uses innovative flavor combinations, like pumpkin jam ravioli with amaretto, foie gras, roasted almonds, and truffle foam; a shrimp burger with yuzu aioli; or raw fish tartare with gin and tonic jelly. Snag a table on the romantic outdoor patio, or take a seat indoors near the open kitchen and watch the master at work. The "Popina Experience" tasting menu is exceptional, if your budget stretches that far. Some find Popina pretentious, while others will tell you it's the best restaurant in Tel Aviv.

In a century-old building near the Suzanne Dellal Centre for Dance and Theatre, this popular eatery bustles day and night. Sample the Kurdish kubbeh (meat-filled semolina dumplings) and pumpkin soup, the okra in tomato sauce, the red peppers stuffed with meat and rice, or the Moroccan harira, a thick soup with chickpeas, veal, and coriander. To start things off, the savory antipasti platter is a welcome sight for the hungry traveler. Opt for a table on the charming terrace beneath the massive branches of an old ficus tree.