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George & John

Tel Aviv

• The Best Restaurant in Israel 2023

Modern Israeli grill fare meets the bounty of the Mediterranean

On the Pass

Tomer Tal

Atlantic meets Mediterranean: In his restaurant, chef Tomer Tal combines flavours and recipes from his Jewish-Moroccan heritage with seasonal raw products from Tel Aviv’s Carmel Market and fresh seafood from adjacent Jaffa Port. Each beautifully plated dish tells its own story, showing an aspect of the local eastern Mediterranean cuisine.

What’s the story? The restaurant’s home, a 19th-century construction in the heart of the city’s Jaffa neighbourhood, is a source of continual inspiration to the chef and his dedicated team. The founding brothers, after whom the establishment is named, set up shop in one of the country’s first modern hotels; the rest is history. The hotel now hosts Jaffa’s first wine bar and outdoor grill.

An ode to charcoal: Several kinds of charcoal-based grills and smokers are used in the kitchen: the hand-chopped kebab is prepared in a small, traditional Middle Eastern classic grill; while wild local cabbage is smoked in a clay pot smoker, set in George & John’s garden.

Surf and turf 2.0: One of the restaurant’s signature dishes is the tuna carpaccio, served with black garlic sauce, puffed tapioca in dashi and seasonal herbs and juicy Medjool dates. For a taste of the grill, opt for the lamb chops in charcoal, slow roasted with a tahdig (traditional Persian scorched rice) tart and glazed quince. 

Any trophies in the cabinet? Returning to the Middle East & North Africa’s 50 Best Restaurants list for a second consecutive year, George & John has succeeded in climbing the ranks and is named The Best Restaurant in Israel 2023.  

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