6 Israeli restaurants ranked among 50 best in the region
The highest Israeli representative, at 6 on the list, is Tel Aviv’s George & John ‘It’s a great honor to represent Israel, especially in days like these,’ says chef Tomer Tal
Tobias (Toby) Siegal is a breaking news editor and contributor to The Times of Israel.
Six Israeli restaurants were ranked among the 50 best dining establishments in the Middle East and North Africa.
The prestigious list published Monday by the website theworlds50best.com and sponsored by San Pellegrino and Acqua Panna was announced at a ceremony held in Abu Dhabi.
The highest-ranking Israeli restaurant was George & John in Tel Aviv, which ranked sixth on the list.
“To receive international recognition for our hard work is important for me and my team just as much as it is seeing people smile while eating our food. It’s also a great honor to represent Israel, especially in days like these,” George & John’s chef Tomer Tal told the Haaretz daily.
“In his restaurant, chef Tomer Tal combines flavors 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,” according to theworlds50best.com.
Other Israeli restaurants included in this year’s list are OCD (14), which ranked 3rd last year; A Restaurant (24), which made the list for the first time; Animar (32), dropping from 17; Milgo & Milbar (40), which receives the same ranking as last year; and HaBasta (48), which expressed disappointment after falling from 14 in last year’s list.
OCD also received an award for Most Sustainable Restaurant, for its zero-waste policy that includes a wide-ranging fermentation process, while Tel Aviv’s Opa and chef Shirel Berger was named winner of the One To Watch Award.
All Israeli restaurants included in this year’s list are located in Tel Aviv.
Five of the Israeli restaurants had been listed in 2022, and this year’s list did not include kosher fish restaurant Pescado in Ashdod, which was ranked 24th last year.
The highest ranking restaurant by theworlds50best.com, which only started ranking restaurants in the Middle East and North Africa last year, was Orfali Bros Bistro in Dubai, described by the site as “the story of three immigrant chef brothers from Syria working together to create a genuinely unique dining experience.”
