For almost four years now, the tactical pedestrian stretch of Nahalat Binyamin has turned into the happiest, most pleasant hangout in the city every evening. Time Out’s updated map gathers all the options for drinking and eating along its length, and it’s a pleasure to discover that even now it keeps upgrading and growing into a delicious monster
In 2021, just as the world was on a COVID break, something wonderful happened to Nahalat Binyamin Street: the stretch between Rothschild Boulevard and the end of the pedestrian mall was closed to traffic from the early evening hours and became a tactical pedestrian zone – or a “walking-oriented street,” as they like to call it on transport feeds. What happened next was that within a few short months the street shook off decades of dust and became one of the most on-point and bustling entertainment areas in Tel Aviv, with a kind of urban pleasantness settling in during the glowing twilight hours that’s hard to find elsewhere.
With success came the anxiety of a wave of generic, copy-paste places taking over the stretch, as happened in the Flea Market, but four years after the initial boom we can happily note that the overwhelming majority of restaurants, bars, and cafés that have set up on this stretch deliver high quality and up, and the magic of the tactical pedestrian zone hasn’t worn off. In fact, it has expanded significantly into the older, official pedestrian mall of Nahalat Binyamin on one side, and toward the meeting point of HaMesila Park and Yehuda Halevi on the other. In the list before you, we’ll head down the street within these boundaries. Time Out’s picks: all the tasty places to eat, and the intoxicating ones to drink, on Nahalat Binyamin Street. You’ve reached the Nachala. Take a load off.
>> הרחוב הכי חם בתל אביב: 25 מסעדות ומזללות מומלצות בנחלת בנימין
1. Vermuteria
The team behind Cicchetti created a place that’s already become one of Nahalat Binyamin’s cult spots – and rightly so. A venue that flies the flag of Madrid’s finest traditions, with excellent vermouth and a range of tapas, defined by a lively, fun vibe, beautiful inviting design, and mind-blowing food we’ll never get tired of. Black paella balls, we definitely mean you. Add an oyster and a good sip of vermouth, and you’ve got the most Madrid you’ll find in the Israeli heat. By the way, they’re currently working on a next-door spot too, and we can’t wait to sip.
Nahalat Binyamin 25, Tel Aviv
2. Pereh
Over the past four years, Pereh has conquered the summit of the city’s best and most beloved restaurants, commanding the strategic corner at the iconic Nordoy Hotel location, with a creative, captivating kitchen, simply excellent food, and an atmosphere with little competition in town. This is no longer just a promising, trendy spot. It’s now a culinary institution not to be missed.
Nahalat Binyamin 27, Tel Aviv
3. Caffè Nordinyo
The long line that almost always snakes toward Caffè Nordinyo’s order counter doesn’t lie. The coffee is excellent, the pastries are outrageously good, and there isn’t a coffee+pastry combo here that won’t leave you satisfied and amazed. The place is open until the early evening, when it offers an aperitivo with alcohol and good nibbles, but we come for the plump maritozzi and pandoro.
Nahalat Binyamin 27, Tel Aviv
4. Bicicletta
A few steps from Nordinyo you’ll find Bicicletta. It’s been with us for quite a while – before it was trendy – and it’s exactly the place for a midweek night out with friends (and, as we’ve discovered before, for lunch too). Relaxed, unpretentious, won’t break the bank, and always fun and tasty. The restaurant is divided into several spaces that create different going-out experiences (including one of the best courtyards in the city), so you can frequent the spot without getting bored.
Nahalat Binyamin 29, Tel Aviv
5. Mozambik
One of Bicicletta’s spaces has become an intimate, timeless wine and cocktail bar hidden behind a curtain and a door, with a vibe entirely different from its bigger sister. The emphasis here is on Israeli wines and classic cocktails. A great place to disappear into for a few hours.
Nahalat Binyamin 29, Tel Aviv
6. Yayin BaKerem
Even before Tel Aviv’s wine-bar trend went to everyone’s head, Yayin BaKerem had already set a high bar as a professional wine shop where you can simply stay and drink at excellent prices. You can sit and sip a light orange wine even in the morning hours – we never judge – but in the evening, the place gets popular and you can forget about finding a free table.
Nahalat Binyamin 29, Tel Aviv
7. Cafe Birenbaum
A veteran vegetarian café-restaurant that’s seen it all on this street, and hopefully is now also enjoying the renewed renaissance of the Nachala. More than 60 years of homestyle, healthy food under family management, with a strong emphasis on salads and quiches – something very few places in Tel Aviv can offer.
Nahalat Binyamin 31, Tel Aviv
8. Bushwick
Bushwick, the sleazy, cheeky son of the Imperial Group, is a cocktail bar with the best-value happy hour in the city and one of the nicest courtyards in the area. Alongside great, fun food that doesn’t shy away from deep-frying – think shrimp roll, crispy Nashville chicken, s’mores for dessert, and other hangover sponges – it’s a long-standing yet steady bar we always love to visit (especially between 18:00 and 20:00, wink wink).
Nahalat Binyamin 28, Tel Aviv
9. Goshen
A kosher meat restaurant, one of the religious community’s favorites in the city, and if our sources are to be believed, it’s definitely worthy for its genre – the steaks are good, the surrounding bistro dishes are successful, prices are high, and the vibe is usually not too hardline religious, so you won’t be bringing political nerves to the table.
Nahalat Binyamin 30, Tel Aviv
10. Yaakov BaNachala
Yaakov BaNachala is a continuation of Yaakov, the bar-café and wine shop on nearby Montefiore Street. At the Nachala branch, there’s a large variety of wines from Israel and around the world at friendly, wallet-pleasing prices, poured by the glass or offered by the bottle to drink on-site or take home. Beyond that, there’s a light, enjoyable atmosphere and, importantly, proper snacks for your drink: avocado bruschetta, cauliflower with tahini, a cheese platter, tomato salad, a bagel with smoked salmon, truffle cream cheese, and more surprises.
Nahalat Binyamin 34, Tel Aviv
11. Barbur
Despite being fairly new on the scene, Barbur seemed to fit right in instantly, like a glove. Behind it is the culinary group ILU, which excels at creating pleasant, tasty food and a nonchalant yet suitably elegant vibe. The kind of light spots you can also find in Paris or Madrid, and how lucky we are to have it here – especially thanks to the ziti skewer, kebab roulade, and summer salad. Un-generic, special dishes, a sexy vibe, romantic atmosphere, and enjoyable food. Next door, a new space called Barburah recently opened – more intimate, dripping with chic, and almost every evening a different DJ pops in for tunes and dancing.
Nahalat Binyamin 36, Tel Aviv
12. Dudu Bar
The veteran Dudu Bar was here back when people preferred to walk around this stretch at night, and at some point it became a split-yet-wonderful place whose one side feels like an old-school ’90s bar and the other is up-to-date, modern, sophisticated, and designed (both with an excellent wine list). This delightful split personality makes it an ideal location for intimate dates (like quite a few places on the street, to be honest).
Nahalat Binyamin 40, Tel Aviv
13. Bar Paradiso
A sweet Italian restaurant from chef Dana-Lee Berman – whom we loved back in the Pronto days, then on the reality show “HaMis’ada HaHadasha,” and finally at Gan HaShikmim. At Bar Paradiso she continues along the lines of northern Italian cuisine, with a slew of fried specials from southern Italy like stretchy, cheesy arancini with tomato-vodka sauce. Also on offer: her legendary, now-iconic vitello tonnato, refreshing salads of seasonal fruits and vegetables, and of course a tiramisu drawer – something very hard to resist.
Nahalat Binyamin 43, Tel Aviv
14. AKA44
The entertainment compound by maestro David Tor, which largely heralded the tactical pedestrian mall’s rise to the place to be, contains a cocktail bar, a particularly excellent wine bar that’s already become a legend, and a more restaurant-like space – each with its own design and character – coming together into a sexy array of options for loads of fun. After the opening hype cooled, we were left with a special, excellent place.
Nahalat Binyamin 44, Tel Aviv
15. Maza
A mezze bar that’s perfect for opening a proper table. The place launched with the promise of dishes by chef Tomer Agay, but he’s no longer in the picture. Still, his spirit and culinary language rest on the venue, which blends flavors and aromas of the Mediterranean Basin into the menu, as befits its spiritual father: raw fish, tahini, matbucha, plenty of olive oil (which even stars in the cocktails), and other rotating nibbles. Not a place that reinvents the wheel – but that’s not always what you’re looking for.
Nahalat Binyamin 45, Tel Aviv
16. Radler
Launched by chef Moshiko Gamlieli, the place promised success from day one. Three years later, Gamlieli and Radler have parted ways, but it remains a sophisticated, super fun, and delicious brasserie with excellent seasonal food and a partyish vibe characterized by booming music and ultra-stylish people. In short, a place to see and be seen – but also to eat well along the way and try not to butter-stain your drip.
Nahalat Binyamin 48, Tel Aviv
17. Fifty and One
At the start of this pasta restaurant’s journey, the kosher certificate made us skeptical, but chef Ofek Gilad turns out simply excellent, fresh pasta with original sauces like a wonderful spicy puttanesca, ricotta-and-Jerusalem-artichoke tortellini, and classics like cacio e pepe or tomato butter. All the small plates are fun, refreshing, and successfully Italian in spirit.
Nahalat Binyamin 51, Tel Aviv
18. Brava Genta
Don’t bother getting tangled up with the Italian name – you can just call them by the direct English translation: “Good People.” It’s the ideal going-out combo for Nahalat Binyamin’s early, or late, evenings: a wine bar with sinful pâtisserie (the profiteroles are to die for) and a small delicatessen of tasty things to take home. The combo of good wine and sinful sweet pastries works much better than we expected – but don’t forget, there are savories, too. Something for every palate.
Nahalat Binyamin 54, Tel Aviv
19. Har Sinai Pizza
Excellent pizza that gives a proper fight to all the late-night slices around (yes, including Teder Pizza) and makes for the perfect munch at the end of any evening on the street. The picture says it all.
Nahalat Binyamin 55, Tel Aviv
20. QQ
A new gelateria that set up next to Har Sinai Pizza, also from David Tor. The man who revived Nahalat Binyamin promised his kids he’d open a gelateria – and he did – fulfilling a dream for plenty of kids and kids at heart with an upgraded shop serving sundae-style ice-cream desserts loaded with sauces, toppings, and boosts. Think “blow-your-mind” ice cream – but artisanal. It’s based on four soft-serve flavors—vanilla, gianduja chocolate, berries, and pistachio – with sinful add-ons like marshmallow torched right before your eyes, or kadaif threads befitting the era. Serious yum.
Nahalat Binyamin 55, Tel Aviv
21. Men Tenten + Izakaya
A restaurant known for its beloved ramen but definitely offering much more. There’s excellent sushi, Japanese skewers, quality sake. But the real ace is the Izakaya, the place’s small bar with meticulous design, walk-in-only seating, and indoor smoking allowed (!); it’ll give you an open-ended night every time, with a unique atmosphere you won’t find anywhere else in the city.
Nahalat Binyamin 57, Tel Aviv
22. Noema
A classic Nahalat Binyamini gastro bar sitting on the corner of the Nachala, helmed by chef Ruslan Osov. The esteemed chef – formerly of Toto and Sarona – turns out pleasant, well-made dishes from top-quality ingredients with an emphasis on fish, seafood, and vegetables. Excellent sashimi, tuna tartare and beef fillet tartare, and a range of classics with a local twist and successful presentation. Prices are fair and the vibe is fun – what more do you need?
Nahalat Binyamin 59, Tel Aviv
23. Oyster Club
Noema’s next-door neighbor, and as its name suggests – it’s a full-on oyster club brimming with bivalves and bubbly champagne, just like in port cities around the world. You’ll find Gillardeau, Lambert, Amelie, and Elegant oysters alongside caviar-topped Bellinis, crudo on ice, and other small, hedonistic plates. The price, by the way, isn’t particularly hedonistic and is fairly down to earth. It’s not one-euro oysters like in Paris – more like 3–4 euros apiece – but this is Israel after all, so all that’s left is to slurp and forget a little.
Nahalat Binyamin 59, Tel Aviv
24. Pizza X
The pizza that came to us from Modi’in settled beautifully in Tel Aviv with two bustling branches – one Neapolitan offshoot in the Carmel and the talked-about branch on Nahalat Binyamin, open late every day – until 3:00 on weekdays, and sometimes even until 3 a.m. on weekends. Respect. It’s a neo-Neapolitan dough, proofed 72 hours into a crispy, tasty, enjoyable bite with crazy toppings – the perfect, precisely sleazy munch for the middle of the night after getting tipsy. Or really at any other time, because pizza is always a good idea.
Nahalat Binyamin 59, Tel Aviv
25. Sexy Fish
One of the sexiest/sleaziest spots in the city for a mature, techno-loving crowd. If it didn’t exist, the 40+ crowd would be forced to gentrify or sit in zillennial joints, heaven help us.
Nahalat Binyamin 63, Tel Aviv
