The Gordon Hotel is one of the latest boutique hotels to open in Tel Aviv and its location on the seafront sets it apart from other boutique hotels in the city. The hotel is housed in a Bauhaus landmark that was recently renovated. Tel Aviv is known for its cluster of gorgeous Bauhaus buildings, painted white, thus giving it the name “White City”.

The hotel has only 12 rooms which makes it a more intimate place to stay. Rooms are equipped with state-of-the-art technology enabling you to control the lighting, drapes, climate settings and more with a simple push of a button. Most rooms feature a spacious terrace with sea view and overlook Tel Aviv’s promenade. There is also a luxurious rooftop suite that includes a private roof area with sunbeds and a hot tub, overlooking the Mediterranean, but it is not available yet.

The bistro overlooking the sea is a perfect place to hang out whether you want only drinks or if you are hungry for delicious Mediterranean cuisine. They will soon be opening a rooftop lounge, which should be even better for hanging out.

The Gordon Hotel’s location is great if you want to go shopping along Dizengoff Avenue or if you want to run along the long, lovely beach of Tel Aviv.

Email the hotel to inquire about a booking.

* * * * * * * * *

If you are going to Israel, make sure you check out our hotel and restaurant reviews. Here are two of the latest boutique hotel reviews in Tel Aviv:

Brown Urban Hotel: glamorous boutique hotel in Tel Aviv

Varsano Luxury Suites: new boutique hotel opens in Tel Aviv

To read all our reviews in Israel (including Jerusalem), go to Mapplr’s Israel travel articles.

Deluxe room at Brown Hotel Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv is a fabulous city with amazing food, vibrant nightlife, beaches, culture and art, but until recently, the only suitable accommodations for visitors have been large chain hotels, which have not kept up with the times in terms of design, amenities, and service. Because tourism in Israel has come mostly from tour groups in search of the Holy Land, few locals thought of catering to sophisticated independent travelers or Israelis coming back to visit their families.

That has left the field open for boutique hotels such as the Brown Hotel, which just opened on a quiet street close to the chic Neve Tzedek quarter (my favourite neighborhood in the city). The lovely Rothschild Boulevard and the Carmel market — with its Middle Eastern spices, olives, fresh fruit and vegetables and restaurants — are within walking distance. A ten-minute walk also takes you to the warm waters of the Mediterranean, if you like swimming, and to one of the many beachside restaurants for decadent cocktails and delicious Israeli food.

The design of the Brown Hotel Tel Aviv is a blend of “traditional gentlemen’s club” and 1970s glam. They took a 1950s bank building and created an intimate “private club” feel with dark wooden floors, leather couches and a library. They have 30 rooms that feature large beds, art work by local artists, Egyptian cotton towels and 400 thread-count linens, a walk-in black marble shower with rainforest shower head, 32-inch flat screen TV and free Wi-Fi. Although the rooms are rather small (the largest one is the Deluxe, pictured above), they are designed in a contemporary style with warm, cozy touches. The hotel also has a rooftop terrace for those sunny mornings or balmy evenings (see below).

Rooftop terrace of the Brown Hotel Tel Aviv

Rates for a double room are approximately $175, which is reasonable compared to other boutique hotels in this area which charge $300 and more.

Brown Hotel TLV
25 Kalisher street
Tel Aviv, Israel 65165
+972 3 717 0200
Email the hotel to inquire about a booking.

* * * * * * * * * *

Read our top choices for hotels and restaurants in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and all over Israel:

Mapplr’s favorite hotels in Tel Aviv

Mapplr’s favorite cafes, restaurants and bars in Neve Tzedek, Tel Aviv

Mapplr’s Tel Aviv favorites

Mapplr’s Israel favorites

If you are going to Israel and are thinking of staying in Haifa, check out the Villa Carmel, a recently renovated historic hotel high up in the hills overlooking the city. Situated in Haifa’s prestigious Carmel district, it is considered to be the city’s most elegant boutique hotel. Originally built as Haifa’s most luxurious hotel in the 1940s, the Villa’s gracious old world charm has been restored and updated with contemporary design and modern conveniences. Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben Gurion, and his wife Paula, were among the hotel’s famous guests.

Villa Carmel has only 16 rooms, each of which features luxurious Egyptian bedding and a range of modern amenities including flat-screen TVs and free Wi-Fi. The hotel has a lovely roof top terrace, complete with Jacuzzi and sauna. It also has a gourmet restaurant overlooking the lovely gardens. A lavish breakfast is served on a daily basis, or guests can enjoy fantastic à la carte lunches and dinners.

A must-see in Haifa: the Baha’i Gardens, cascade down the hillsides of the city (photo below).

Villa Carmel
1 Heinrich Heine St. (Off 30 Moriah Blvd)
Haifa, Israel
+972 4 8375777

Rates for a double room start at $200 per night.

Craving couscous in Tel Aviv? There are two restaurants I visited on a recent trip: Frida Hecht and Gueta, both of which serve very delicious couscous with options for vegetarians.

Gueta is a family-run kosher restaurant on a main street in Jaffa, close to the clock tower. In addition to couscous, they serve other Libyan dishes. We ordered the couscous complet which comes with a meat dish and a thick spinach and white bean soup, or if you prefer, a lighter vegetable soup with pumpkin, carrots, onions, courgettes and celery. You also get spicy pickled condiments such as filfelchuma. Gueta’s dining room is a large airy place where you can sit comfortably with friends. Service is excellent.

Frida Hecht is an informal tiny place on Ben Yehuda St. (a major thoroughfare that runs parallel to HaYarkon St.), with a couple of tables and a long counter by the window. It seems to be mostly a takeaway location although when I had lunch here, I saw others sitting along the counter quietly enjoying their couscous meals. As with Gueta, the main attraction is the couscous. The mafroum at Frida Hecht is amazing: savoury spiced ground lamb stuffed in vegetables and cooked in a tangy sauce to accompany your couscous. I loved the vegetable soup at Frida Hecht, too, which is very similar to the one I had at Gueta.

The food at both restaurants is not expensive so if you are going to Tel Aviv on a budget, these are excellent places to eat.

Gueta
6 Sderot Yerushalayim
Tel Aviv, Israel
+972 3 681 3993
http://www.2eat.co.il/GUETA/ (Hebrew)

Frida Hecht
20 Ben Yehuda St.
Tel Aviv, Israel

Fresh olives at the Carmel Market in Tel Aviv

If you looking for a restaurant that serves “fresh from the market” cuisine in Tel Aviv, check out HaBasta, a tiny restaurant located on a street off the Carmel Market. They serve tapas (or small plates) and have an excellent wine list to accompany the food. When we went to HaBasta last week, we ordered three toasted baguette slices topped with mussels, smoked salmon and mackerel; steak tartare; and ceviche. The fish was very fresh and delicious. On warm evenings, it’s a delight to sit outside and drink cold glasses of cava. The menu of HaBasta changes daily depending upon what’s on offer in the Carmel Market. Because it is very popular among locals, it’s important to call and reserve in advance.

HaBasta
4 HaShomer Street
Tel Aviv, Israel
+972 3 516-9234
(near the Carmel Market)

Charcuterie is one of the best restaurants in Tel Aviv if you like a lively atmosphere, outdoor dining and excellent meat dishes. The restaurant is located on an alley off the Jaffa flea market, an area that has become very popular for dining and drinking outdoors.

Charcuterie specializes in meat dishes (as the name suggests) and offers different kinds of sausages and salumi in addition to sirloin steak and veal. I went to Charcuterie with friends this week and we ordered several dishes to share (the best way to try out the restaurant’s specialties). The merguez sausages were savoury and lightly spiced, and like the other meat dishes, served with spaetzle (small potato dumplings). The sirloin steak was cooked to perfection and very juicy. The menu also has several pasta (for example, black pasta with shrimp, mussels and calamari) and vegetable dishes for those who want variety.

Charcuterie is run by Vince Muster (formerly of Vince and Tamar); he runs another popular restaurant in Tel Aviv called The Container on the Jaffa Port, this time focusing on seafood. As with other restaurants in Tel Aviv, the best time to dine is after 9:00 p.m.

Charcuterie
3 Rehov Rabbi Chanina
Tel Aviv, Israel
+972 3 682 8843

* * * * * *

Read our review of The Container on the Jaffa port.

The Container is one of the newest restaurants to appear on the Tel Aviv dining scene. It is located in Jaffa Port in a cavernous warehouse that incorporates an art gallery and a bar. The interiors of the restaurant retain the rough, unpolished look and feel of a scruffy port building which contrasts well with the trendy backlit bar area, and the sophisticated cuisine of the place. The Container is the latest restaurant of Vince Muster, who owns the fabulous Charcuterie (a restaurant specializing in meat dishes also located in Jaffa, but on a side street off the flea market).

The Container’s menu consists of an eclectic mix of North African, Middle Eastern and Italian dishes, with fresh seafood as the centrepiece, and vegetables prepared in an innovative way. On the evening that we dined there, we had:

Since it was a beautiful warm evening, we sat outside in front of the fishing boats, enjoying the gentle sea breeze.

Jaffa Port does not have the crowds or the liveliness of the Tel Aviv port, but this will change soon. The town of Jaffa is undergoing massive gentrification, with luxury hotels and apartment buildings sprouting up wherever there is an empty lot or a historic building to upgrade. Already Jaffa is home to many of Tel Aviv’s most trendy restaurants such as Charcuterie and the recently opened, innovative Shakuf.

The Container
Old Jaffa Port, Warehouse No. 2
Tel Aviv, Israel
+972 3 683 6321

* * * * * *

Read our review of Charcuterie.

Machneyuda is one of the most difficult restaurants in Israel right now to get a reservation and when you go there, you’ll understand why. Located on a street that leads up to Jerusalem’s famous Machne Yehuda market, Machneyuda’s cuisine is the latest example of new Israeli “fresh from the market” cooking. The restaurant was started by three Jerusalem chefs — Asaf Granit, Yossi Elad and Uri Navon. They have worked in various French and Italian restaurants for many years.

The menu changes regularly and is based upon what the chefs find in the Machne Yehuda market, therefore, you get food based upon what’s in season.

This week, my dining companion and I had the following dishes:

• starters: tuna tartare, shrimp with garlic in olive oil (slightly spicy, very fresh shrimp) and hamshuka (a savoury dish of hummous and ground meat).
• mains: black tagliatelle with mussels (the tagliatelle is made with squid ink); steak with polenta.
• desserts: malabi (a Middle Eastern dessert resembling panna cotta, but this one is made with mango instead of the traditional rose water) and semolina cake with tahini ice cream.

Other dishes we spotted on the menu and would have loved to try, include the seafood soup Uri Buri style (note: Uri Buri is a popular seafood restaurant in Akko); fish, mussels and calamari in risotto; and tomato salad with anchovy (see photo below).

Machneyuda is by far the most lively and fun restaurant I have ever visited. There are 2 floors: the ground floor with an open kitchen and bar seating area (the most fun, in my opinion) plus a few tables; and the upper floor with tables. Why is the ground floor the best place to sit? Because the staff are constantly plying you with drink (such as arak) and occasionally break into a dance and a song or two. You can gaze into the open kitchen and watch how they cook up a storm and come out with these wonderful dishes. The music consists of funky Israeli, Arabic, and Northern African tunes. This is definitely a place to go to with friends who love fresh, creative Mediterranean cooking.

Locals warn that you must make reservations weeks in advance, but we managed to get two seats at the bar near the open kitchen with only a week’s advance notice.

Machneyuda
10 Beit Yaakov St.
Jerusalem, Israel
+972 2 533 3442

Shakuf is one of the latest restaurants to appear on the Israeli dining scene and it stands out above the others by its unusual combination of ingredients, the surprising way in which the food is served, and the stylish, industrial chic interiors of the restaurant in a very quiet neighborhood in Jaffa, nowhere near the Jaffa port where most of the other trendy restaurants are located. The crowd is young and fashionable, but not snobbish. Service is impeccable.

The prix fixe menu changes daily and has two options: a tasting menu and a chef’s menu (185 NIS and 235 NIS, respectively, which is $50 and $65). They have a wine list that includes several wonderful Israeli wines. I love the unusual combinations of meat, fish and vegetables, the unconventional ways in which they are served (for example, one dish came in small wooden containers that resemble shallow flower boxes), and the novel twists on traditional Mediterranean dishes like shakshuka. The portions are small so you won’t feel uncomfortably stuffed at the end of the evening. The food reminds me of Noma (the Copenhagen restaurant that is considered right now to be the best restaurant in the world). Not surprising, given that Eldad Shem-Tov (the founder and chef of Shakuf) completed an apprenticeship at Noma. He has previously worked at Alain Ducasse, Per Se and dw50 in Manhattan.

The restaurant is located in a large cavernous space with very high ceilings. Diners sit on a bar that surrounds and faces the open kitchen, allowing them to see how the food is cooked and how it is artfully arranged on plates. There are a few tables in distant corners for those who don’t want to sit around the bar, but they are definitely not the best places to sit as they are far away from the action.

Because they have room for only 40 guests, you have to reserve in advance. The restaurant may be a bit difficult to find at night. All you will see is a steel door on a run down building in a dark quiet neighborhood. But it is absolutely worth visiting if you are in Tel Aviv.

Shakuf
Magen Avraham 2
Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel
+972 (0)3 758 6888
Google map showing Shakuf

If you are visiting Jerusalem and want to stay in a five-star hotel, check out the recently opened Mamilla Hotel in the new shopping area along Alrov Mamilla Avenue. The hotel has great views of the Tower of David and the Old City’s walls; it is within walking distance from the Jaffa Gate and many of the city’s historic monuments.

The hotel’s exterior was designed by Moshe Safdie, the interiors by Piero Lissoni. Rooms are furnished in a contemporary style, blending warm fabric touches with Jerusalem stone. Other amenities include a swimming pool, sun deck, rooftop lounge restaurant where you can gaze out on to the Old City while having dinner, a spa offering hammam treatments, gym, and espresso bar. The hotel has 194 rooms and suites; the latter have stunning views of the Old City. Room rates start at $325.

Mamilla Hotel
11 King Solomon Street
94182 Jerusalem
Israel
+972 2 5482222
Email the hotel to inquire about a booking.

* * * * * * * *

Check out Mapplr’s Tel Aviv travel guide and our list of restaurants outside Tel Aviv which are very good (one is in Jerusalem).