Jaffa · Where to eat
Where to eat in Jaffa
Jaffa eats Palestinian at the base and fish on top, and of the thirteen places below exactly one publishes a kashrut certificate.
Picks here that publish a kashrut certificate
One
Fattal's page for The Jaffa Hotel calls it a kosher hotel and Golda's a kosher dairy restaurant. The other twelve say nothing either way.
Israeli VAT, already in the menu price
18%
The rate since 2025. Nothing else is added at the end of an Israeli bill, because the tip is not on it.
Tips became wages on
1 Jan 2019
The National Labour Court ruled in March 2018 that restaurant tips are salary, carrying income tax, pension and national insurance.
Abu Hassan's first shop on Ha-Dolphin Street
1972
Ali Karavan had been selling hummus from a cart since 1959, on Asif's account of it. The shop still closes when the food runs out.
Jaffa is a small eating district with an unusually wide price range inside it. The whole of it fits in about a square kilometre: Kedumim Square and the lanes below it, the fishing harbour, the flea market four streets inland, and Jerusalem Boulevard running away from the clock tower into the ordinary town. Within that square kilometre a fried fish lunch at the port and a dinner with the Mediterranean in the window are a hundred metres and a very large sum apart, and both are worth having.
The cooking is mostly Palestinian and mostly built on the same two habits. First, the table fills before anything is ordered: salads, pickles, tahini, hot bread, and in the Levantine houses that spread belongs to the price of the main course rather than sitting beside it on the bill. Second, the sea is the protein. Jaffa is a working fishing harbour with a few dozen boats and the fish restaurants are the oldest commercial fact about the place. Around that base sit the newer things, a Greek room on the square, an Asian kitchen in a church building, a bar with a band in the flea market, and a knafeh counter that put ice cream in the middle of it.
The one thing to settle before booking anything is kashrut, because Jaffa is the least kosher place to eat in Israel and does not advertise the fact. Twelve of the thirteen entries below publish nothing on the subject in either direction, two of them serve shellfish that answers the question for them, and one, a hotel dining room, states plainly that it is certified. Where an operator publishes its hours, its owners or its kashrut, that is taken from its own page and linked at the foot of this guide. Where nothing is published, the entry says so rather than guessing.
13 places to eat
The places to eat worth the trip in Jaffa
Our pick and why, then everything the listing knows, with the date it was pulled.
01
Kabakeh
Galilean Palestinian cooking above Kedumim Square
Kabakeh is the Jaffa offshoot of Ezba, the Galilean Arab restaurant at Rameh that its own booking page says has been running for close to three decades, and it cooks from the same tradition: bulgur kibbeh, dumplings in yoghurt, and dishes built on wild greens and on whatever the season is doing. It occupies an old stone house on the edge of Kedumim Square, which is the most photographed spot in Jaffa and very rarely the site of a kitchen this serious. The published week is short and catches people out in both directions: Wednesday to Saturday only, from five in the afternoon midweek and from midday on Friday and Saturday. Of everything on this page it is the one most worth arranging a trip around.
- Known for:
- Galilean Arab menu, Bulgur kibbeh, Wild greens and seasonal dishes
Book through OnTopo. It does not open Sunday, Monday or Tuesday, so a short trip has to be built around it rather than the other way round.
“Authentic Jaffa vibe, amazing food, fast and inviting service.”
A reviewer, quoted by Google under the listing. 4.6485 ratings89% of raters gave four or five stars.
Google Maps, retrieved . Ratings move; this one is a snapshot, not a live figure.
- Address
- Kikar Kdumim 6, Tel Aviv-Yafo, 6803785
- Kitchen
- Restaurant
- Phone
- +9723-688-8843
- Website
- kabakeh.com
Map, hours and reviewsHours as listed
Opening hours as published on Google Maps Sun-Tue Closed Wed 17:00-23:00 Thu 17:00-23:30 Fri 12:00-23:30 Sat 12:00-22:00 02
The Old Man and the Sea
The table that fills before you order
The format is the whole point. Sit down and the table disappears under small plates, salads, pickles, tahini, hot pitta from a tabun oven and fresh lemonade, all of it before a main course has been discussed, and then the fish arrives in quantities built for sharing. Its own site dates the restaurant from 1999 and puts fried prawns, calamari and grilled fish at the centre of the menu, which also settles its kashrut without anyone needing to ask. It is loud, fast, on the water and designed for families and groups rather than for a quiet dinner, and it is the single most efficient way to feed six people well in Jaffa. Go hungry and order less than instinct suggests.
- Kashrut:
- Not kosher
- Known for:
- The opening spread of salads and mezze, Grilled fish, Fried calamari and prawns, Tabun pitta
Book ahead for Friday and Saturday and for any group. Reservations by telephone and WhatsApp through its own site.
“Food was great, huge quantities, service good and view was amazing.”
A reviewer, quoted by Google under the listing. 4.210,984 ratings79% of raters gave four or five stars.
Google Maps, retrieved . Ratings move; this one is a snapshot, not a live figure.
- Address
- Nemal Yafo St 101, Tel Aviv-Yafo
- Kitchen
- Mediterranean
- Price band
- ₪₪ Moderate
- Phone
- +9723-544-8820
Map, hours and reviewsHours as listed
Opening hours as published on Google Maps Sun-Sat 11:00-00:00 03
Saint George
A long grill in restored stone
Saint George works the fish houses' arrangement with the grill at the centre instead: kofta, lamb chops and kebab, preceded by a spread of mezze that arrives unasked and is generous enough to be the meal. It sits in a restored stone house on Louis Pasteur Street, the short lane below Kedumim Square that now holds several of the neighbourhood's better known Arab kitchens side by side, and the kitchen is open to the room. It is more comfortable than the harbour counters and noticeably cheaper than the tables with a sea view a minute's walk uphill, which makes it the sensible middle of this page. It publishes nothing about kashrut in either direction.
- Known for:
- Mezze spread, Kofta and lamb chops, Charcoal kebab
Bookings by telephone or through OnTopo. Worth holding a table on a Friday or Saturday evening, when the whole lane fills at once.
“Amazing food and service with very reasonable prices.”
A reviewer, quoted by Google under the listing. 4.42,035 ratings84% of raters gave four or five stars.
Google Maps, retrieved . Ratings move; this one is a snapshot, not a live figure.
- Address
- Louis Pasteur St 5, Tel Aviv-Yafo
- Kitchen
- Restaurant
- Price band
- ₪₪ Moderate
- Phone
- +9723-649-1293
- Website
- saint-george.co.il
Map, hours and reviewsHours as listed
Opening hours as published on Google Maps Sun-Sat 11:30-23:30 04
Kalamata
Dinner with the sea in the window
Kalamata is the Greek room on Kedumim Square, named after the town in the Peloponnese and its olives, and its booking page sells the view before it sells the kitchen. That is fair enough: it is a two-level stone building between the fishing harbour and the old town, the good tables are the ones on the water side, and the Greek music and the anise are part of the offer. The cooking is Greek with eastern Mediterranean edges, and there is a cheaper fixed menu at lunchtime on weekdays. The same page lists 11:00 to 23:00 on Friday and Saturday, which makes it one of the easier good tables to get on a weekend evening.
- Known for:
- Greek mezedes, Grilled fish, Weekday lunch menu
OnTopo through its own site, and ask for the sea side when you book. The difference between the two halves of this restaurant is the reason to come.
“Service was prompt and attentive and the food was delicious.”
A reviewer, quoted by Google under the listing. 4.33,526 ratings83% of raters gave four or five stars.
Google Maps, retrieved . Ratings move; this one is a snapshot, not a live figure.
- Address
- Kikar Kdumim 10, Tel Aviv-Yafo
- Kitchen
- Greek, Mediterranean restaurant
- Price band
- ₪₪ Moderate
- Phone
- +9723-681-9998
- Website
- kalamata.co.il
Map, hours and reviewsHours as listed
Opening hours as published on Google Maps Sun 11:00-17:00 Mon-Sat 11:00-23:00 05
Cafe Puaa
Breakfast in the flea market's front room
Puaa was in the flea market long before the lanes filled with places to eat, and it more or less invented the format the others copied: a room furnished entirely from the stalls outside, with a price tag on the chair, the lamp and the plate the shakshuka arrives on. The cooking is home-style Mediterranean and strongest in the morning and at lunch, and the masala chai has a following of its own. It is not a secret, it is usually full and it is not trying to be either of those things. Come early on a weekday and sit outside on Rabbi Yohanan Street where the market is still doing its actual job.
- Known for:
- Shakshuka, Mediterranean breakfast, Masala chai
“The best masala chai we've had, and the shakshuka was of the highest order.”
A reviewer, quoted by Google under the listing. 4.45,698 ratings88% of raters gave four or five stars.
Google Maps, retrieved . Ratings move; this one is a snapshot, not a live figure.
- Address
- Rabbi Yohanan St 6, Tel Aviv-Yafo
- Kitchen
- Restaurant, Cafe
- Price band
- ₪₪ Moderate
- Phone
- +9723-682-3821
Map, hours and reviewsHours as listed
Opening hours as published on Google Maps Sun-Wed 09:00-22:30 Thu 09:00-23:00 Fri 09:00-22:30 Sat 10:00-22:30 06
Raisa
Saturday brunch when the stalls are shut
Raisa is an owner-run bistro in the market whose proprietor writes on the restaurant's own site that her door is open to everybody and that the fish patties and lamb cigars are the best in Jaffa, which is a claim a small restaurant is entitled to make about itself. It publishes a full seven-day week including Saturday from ten in the morning, with a separate brunch menu, which makes it one of the better answers to the question of what is open on a day when the market around it is not. The plates are tapas-sized, there is a proper cocktail list, and the room is small enough that a Friday or Saturday evening without a booking is a gamble. Order several things rather than one.
- Known for:
- Fish patties, Lamb cigars, Small sharing plates, Saturday brunch
OnTopo through its own site, or by telephone. The Saturday brunch is the service most worth holding a table for.
“Great food The service is wonderful on Friday night, we had alive music”
A reviewer, quoted by Google under the listing. 4.33,244 ratings83% of raters gave four or five stars.
Google Maps, retrieved . Ratings move; this one is a snapshot, not a live figure.
- Address
- שוק הפשפשים, Rabbi Yohanan St 10, Tel Aviv-Yafo, 6813814
- Kitchen
- Restaurant, Bistro, Cocktail bar
- Price band
- ₪₪ Moderate
- Phone
- +9723-620-2262
- Website
- raisa.co.il
Map, hours and reviewsHours as listed
Opening hours as published on Google Maps Sun-Wed 12:00-23:00 Thu 12:00-00:00 Fri 09:00-00:00 Sat 10:00-23:00 07
Captain Hook
Oysters on a flea market corner
Captain Hook stands on the corner of Amiad and Rabbi Hanina in the loudest part of the flea market and does fish and seafood with a mezze front end. What separates it from the fry counters down at the harbour is the raw bar: it is an oyster bar as much as a fish restaurant, which puts it beyond any question of kashrut and beyond the reach of anyone who wants a certificate. Tables spill onto the street, there is usually music within earshot, and it works far better as a long evening than as a quick meal. This is a place to sit at for three hours, not to fit in before something else.
- Kashrut:
- Not kosher
- Known for:
- Oysters, Fresh fish, Mezze
Worth booking for a weekend evening. Street tables go first and are the ones people come for.
“Delicious food, great atmosphere, and outstanding service.”
A reviewer, quoted by Google under the listing. 4.5836 ratings86% of raters gave four or five stars.
Google Maps, retrieved . Ratings move; this one is a snapshot, not a live figure.
- Address
- עמיעד 13, Rabi Khanina St 1, Tel Aviv-Yafo, 6811565
- Kitchen
- Restaurant, Fish & chips restaurant, Fish restaurant
- Phone
- +9723-644-5440
- Website
- captainhook.co.il
Map, hours and reviewsHours as listed
Opening hours as published on Google Maps Sun Closed Mon-Sat 11:30-23:00 08
Faruk BaShuk
Friday afternoon with a band playing
Faruk is on Nakhman Street in the middle of the flea market and is as much a bar with a kitchen as a restaurant. Its own site publishes exactly what it is for: happy hour Sunday to Thursday between five and eight, live music on Tuesday evenings at eight and again on Friday afternoons at four, and a Friday brunch before that. The Friday slot is the useful one, because four in the afternoon is the hour the market stops selling furniture and starts selling drinks, and Faruk is where that changeover is most audible. The food is Mediterranean and Italian and honestly secondary to the room.
- Known for:
- Mediterranean and Italian plates, Friday brunch, Cocktails
Book through its own site for the Friday afternoon music. Weekday evenings are usually a walk-in.
“A great local food with a wonderful atmosphere and reasonable prices.”
A reviewer, quoted by Google under the listing. 4.33,689 ratings82% of raters gave four or five stars.
Google Maps, retrieved . Ratings move; this one is a snapshot, not a live figure.
- Address
- Nakhman St 6, Tel Aviv-Yafo
- Kitchen
- Restaurant, Bar, Breakfast restaurant
- Price band
- ₪₪ Moderate
- Phone
- +9723-651-5670
- Website
- faruk-bashuk.co.il
Map, hours and reviewsHours as listed
Opening hours as published on Google Maps Sun-Wed 10:00-23:00 Thu-Sat 10:00-00:30 09
JASIA
Asian cooking under Ottoman stone arches
JASIA was opened by two childhood friends from Jaffa, and its own account of itself is a deliberate collision: Japanese, Thai, Indian and Chinese cooking inside a historic stone building on Louis Pasteur Street that belongs to the Greek Orthodox Church, with stone arches, old wooden beams and fishing rope worked into the room. Sushi and wok dishes are the spine of the menu, and there is a bar attached. It is the outlier on this page and worth knowing about for exactly that reason, since almost everything else in Old Jaffa is Levantine, Greek or fish. The building is a good part of the reason to go.
- Known for:
- Sushi, Wok dishes, Cocktails
Reservations through OnTopo from its own site.
“Beautiful place, wonderful service, high quality food.”
A reviewer, quoted by Google under the listing. 4.31,728 ratings81% of raters gave four or five stars.
Google Maps, retrieved . Ratings move; this one is a snapshot, not a live figure.
- Address
- Louis Pasteur St 7, Tel Aviv-Yafo, 6803608
- Kitchen
- Asian, Asian fusion restaurant, Bar
- Price band
- ₪₪ Moderate
- Phone
- +9723-932-3222
- Website
- jasia.co.il
Map, hours and reviewsHours as listed
Opening hours as published on Google Maps Sun Closed Mon-Sat 11:30-23:30 10
DeliAlhambra
The Jerusalem Boulevard breakfast locals use
This is the pick furthest from the tourist ground and the one most likely to have Jaffa residents at the next table. It is a delicatessen, coffee house and wine shop on Jerusalem Boulevard, the wide flat street that runs inland from the clock tower and carries the ordinary town rather than the restored one. It is listed as a breakfast room, a cheese shop, a coffee shop and a deli at once, which is accurate: the food is assembled from what is on the shelves, and in the evening the same room works as a wine bar. It stands on the same boulevard as the Alhambra, the art deco cinema of 1,000 seats that opened in May 1937 and where Umm Kulthum and Farid al-Atrash performed.
- Known for:
- Mediterranean breakfast, Israeli boutique cheese, Wine by the glass, Evening tapas
“Delicious fresh food, great Israeli wine and pleasant service!”
A reviewer, quoted by Google under the listing. 4.8491 ratings95% of raters gave four or five stars.
Google Maps, retrieved . Ratings move; this one is a snapshot, not a live figure.
- Address
- Jerusalem Blvd 30, Tel Aviv-Yafo
- Kitchen
- Restaurant, Breakfast restaurant, Cheese shop
- Phone
- +9723-778-8681
- Website
- delialhambra.com
Map, hours and reviewsHours as listed
Opening hours as published on Google Maps Sun-Tue 07:30-18:00 Wed-Thu 07:30-23:00 Fri 08:00-16:00 Sat Closed 11
Fish & Chips
The cheap lunch everyone walks past
A plain fry counter at Jaffa Port, with prices that have nothing to do with the view a hundred metres up the hill. There is no dining room to speak of, no booking and not much menu: fish, calamari, chips and a chair on the quay. It is the right answer to a hungry hour between the harbour and the old town, and the one place in this guide where a full lunch costs less than a cocktail in the flea market. It is a small operation that keeps its own hours, so check the day before making a plan of it.
- Known for:
- Fried fish, Calamari, Chips
“fresh ingrediants, fair prices and tasty food”
A reviewer, quoted by Google under the listing. 4.41,840 ratings86% of raters gave four or five stars.
Google Maps, retrieved . Ratings move; this one is a snapshot, not a live figure.
- Address
- Jaffa Port, Nemal Yafo St 1, Tel Aviv-Yafo
- Kitchen
- Seafood, Fish restaurant
- Price band
- ₪ Inexpensive
- Website
- facebook.com
Map, hours and reviewsHours as listed
Opening hours as published on Google Maps Sun Closed Mon-Sat 10:30-22:00 12
Yaffa Knafeh
Hot knafeh with ice cream in it
Yaffa Knafeh was set up in 2018 by two friends, Farah Abu Nijam and Shahada Abu Shahada, who started by selling portions through a local grocery before opening their own place on Olei Zion Street. The house version puts ice cream into hot knafeh, which is what the shop is known for, and baklava, malabi and Turkish sweets sit alongside it with Arabic coffee and cardamom or mint tea. It is cheap, it is late, and it is the obvious end to an evening that started with fish. A second branch opened on Beit Eshel Street in April 2020.
- Known for:
- Knafeh with ice cream, Baklava, Malabi, Arabic coffee with cardamom
“A unique building with a very nice crew And a delicious food in fair prices”
A reviewer, quoted by Google under the listing. 4.64,703 ratings90% of raters gave four or five stars.
Google Maps, retrieved . Ratings move; this one is a snapshot, not a live figure.
- Address
- Olei Zion St 24, Tel Aviv-Yafo
- Kitchen
- Restaurant, Dessert restaurant
- Price band
- ₪₪ Moderate
- Phone
- +9723-970-2051
- Website
- yaffaknafeh.com
Map, hours and reviewsHours as listed
Opening hours as published on Google Maps Sun-Wed 10:00-00:30 Thu-Fri 10:00-01:00 Sat 10:00-00:30 13
The Jaffa Hotel, Tel Aviv
The only kosher dining room here
Nothing else on this page publishes a kashrut certificate, so a reader who keeps kosher starts here. Fattal's own page for the hotel describes it as a kosher hotel and its restaurant, Golda's, as a kosher dairy kitchen cooking Italian food with Jaffa ingredients; a second room, Giardino, is listed as coming. The setting is a 19th-century neo-Renaissance building reworked by the British architect John Pawson with Rami Gil, who kept the historic fabric and dropped modern rooms inside it, and the dining room is priced accordingly. A certified kitchen handles Friday evening and Saturday differently from the rest of the neighbourhood, with booking and payment taken beforehand, so ask the hotel how it runs Shabbat rather than assuming either way.
- Kashrut:
- Kosher
- Known for:
- Kosher dairy Italian menu at Golda's
Book the restaurant through the hotel. Confirm the Friday and Saturday arrangement when you do, because it will not be the arrangement anywhere else in this guide.
“The property with its history, location, and amenities are unparalleled.”
A reviewer, quoted by Google under the listing. 4.2942 ratings80% of raters gave four or five stars.
Google Maps, retrieved . Ratings move; this one is a snapshot, not a live figure.
Map, hours and reviews- Address
- Louis Pasteur St 2, Tel Aviv-Yafo, 6803602
- Kitchen
- Hotel
- Phone
- +9723-504-2000
- Website
- fattal.co.il
The food
Hummus before noon, mezze all afternoon, fish at the price of the view
The cheapest and oldest layer of Jaffa food is the hummus counter, and it is a morning trade rather than a lunch one. The reference address is Abu Hassan on Ha-Dolphin Street, which Asif, the Israeli food culture institute, dates to a cart Ali Karavan pushed from 1959 and a shop he opened in 1972. It sells hummus, ful and msabbaha, and the house dish is the triangle, which is all three in one plate. It opens at eight in the morning and shuts when the pots are empty, usually in the early afternoon, which is why it does not appear in the picks below and why anyone who wants it should treat it as breakfast. Two larger branches on Shivtei Israel Street keep longer hours and a longer menu.
The next layer up is the mezze table, and it is the thing most visitors get wrong. Sit down in a Levantine house here and a dozen or more small plates arrive unasked: pickles, beetroot, tahini, aubergine, hummus, hot pitta from a tabun oven. In most of these kitchens that spread is part of what the main course costs, not an extra. Two people who each order a starter and a main will leave most of it. The correct move is to order one grilled or fried thing between two, let the table fill, and add another dish afterwards if it is still needed.
The fish is the reason the restaurants are where they are. Jaffa harbour still lands boats, and the eating splits sharply by altitude: fry counters and plastic chairs at the quay, comfortable rooms with mezze and grilled fish on Louis Pasteur Street a short climb above, and the tables with a sea view on Kedumim Square, where a good part of the bill is the window. All three are legitimate. Deciding which one the meal is for, before walking up the hill, saves a lot of money or a lot of disappointment.
Then there is the flea market, Shuk HaPishpeshim, which changed use rather than closed. The lanes around Nakhman, Rabbi Hanina and Rabbi Yohanan streets trade in second-hand furniture and rugs by day and in food, drink and live music after dark, and several of the rooms are furnished from the stalls immediately outside them. Inland from all of it, Jerusalem Boulevard is where Jaffa eats when nobody is watching: a wide street with the ordinary town along it, and, part way down, the Alhambra, the art deco cinema of 1,000 seats that Elias Al-Mor built in 1937 and that Umm Kulthum and Farid al-Atrash sang in.
Kashrut
Saturday is a normal trading day, and Monday often is not
Israel has no Shabbat law. The Israel Democracy Institute's guide to the status quo sets out what exists instead: the 1951 Hours of Work and Rest Law, which guarantees a weekly rest of at least 36 consecutive hours falling on Saturday for Jewish workers, and the Municipalities Ordinance, which lets each local authority regulate the opening and closing of shops, restaurants, cafes, bars, cinemas and theatres with the claims of religious tradition in mind. Tel Aviv-Yafo is at the permissive end of that range, and Jaffa sits inside Tel Aviv-Yafo. It is also a mixed city whose Arab residents are not covered by the rest-day provisions at all. The combined result is that Saturday here is an ordinary trading day and Friday evening is a busy one.
The published weeks of the picks below bear that out and add a twist worth knowing. Kalamata lists Friday and Saturday 11:00 to 23:00. Raisa publishes Saturday from ten in the morning with a Saturday brunch. Faruk BaShuk puts live music on at four o'clock on a Friday afternoon, which is the hour the market itself is winding down. Kabakeh is the sharpest case: its booking page opens it Wednesday to Saturday and closes it Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. A visitor who plans Jaffa around avoiding Shabbat will find the restaurants open and may find them shut on a Monday instead.
What does stop on Friday afternoon is the retail. The flea market stalls wind down and public transport ends across the country until Saturday evening, Israel Railways and the Tel Aviv light rail included. None of that closes the restaurants. It does mean Saturday in Jaffa is best planned as a walking and eating day rather than a shopping one, which is roughly what the neighbourhood is for anyway.
For anyone who keeps kosher this cuts hard the other way, and it is worth being exact rather than reassuring. Of the thirteen picks here, one publishes a kashrut statement: Fattal's page for The Jaffa Hotel describes it as a kosher hotel and its restaurant Golda's as a kosher dairy kitchen. Two of the others put the matter beyond doubt in the opposite direction, since Captain Hook serves oysters and The Old Man and the Sea puts prawns and calamari on its own menu. The remaining ten say nothing, which is not the same as being uncertified but should be read as an answer. One legal point has changed recently: on 15 July 2026 the Knesset passed a law by 46 votes to 41 restoring the Chief Rabbinate's exclusive right to issue kosher certification, reversing the reform that had let private Orthodox bodies certify in their own name. A certificate is a dated paper document displayed on the premises, naming the body that issued it, and it expires. If kashrut matters, read the door rather than a listing, an aggregator or this page.
Practicalities
Booking, tipping, tap water and the salads nobody ordered
Booking runs through OnTopo, the Israeli platform, rather than by email. Kabakeh, Kalamata, Raisa, JASIA and Faruk BaShuk all send reservations there from their own pages; several also take a WhatsApp message or a telephone call, and the harbour counters take neither because they have no tables to hold. Friday and Saturday evenings and the Saturday brunch services are the ones that need booking in advance. The rooms in the flea market are small, which means they fill before the large ones on the square do, not after.
Tipping is not optional and it is not on the bill. Israeli restaurants do not normally add a service charge, and the customary tip is around ten to fifteen per cent left on top. Since 1 January 2019 that money has been salary rather than a gift: the National Labour Court ruled in March 2018 that tips count as wages whether they pass through the till or straight into a waiter's hand, carrying income tax, pension and national insurance. Practically, ask whether the tip can go on the card, because tills vary and some places still want it in cash. Cash is worth carrying in Jaffa anyway, because the market stalls often do not take anything else.
The printed price is the whole price. Israeli VAT has stood at 18 per cent since 2025 and is already inside the menu figure, so the only arithmetic left at the end of a meal is the tip. Tap water is safe and free everywhere, and asking for it by name is normal; bottled water will otherwise arrive and be charged for.
One thing about quantity. Neither the Levantine houses nor the fish restaurants reward ordering a course each: the mezze is included, the portions are built for the middle of the table, and both work out cheaper than they look once that is understood.
Geography
The square, the harbour, the market and the boulevard
Kedumim Square is the top of the hill and the top of the price range: the view, the restored stone, the tour groups, and the two rooms on this page that earn the setting rather than merely occupying it. Immediately below it, Louis Pasteur Street is a short lane carrying several of Jaffa's better known Arab kitchens one beside the next, along with a couple of cafes. It is the most concentrated eating address in the neighbourhood and it is thirty seconds off the square.
The harbour is the cheap ground: a working fishing port with a fleet, a few sheds, a row of counters and a quay to eat on. It is also the right place to be at the end of the afternoon, when the boats come in and the light goes off the water onto the stone.
The flea market is the evening. Nakhman, Rabbi Hanina and Rabbi Yohanan streets hold most of the bars, bistros and cafes that grew into the retail units as the second-hand traders thinned out, and the lanes stay busy long after the tarpaulins come down. It is the one part of Jaffa that is better after dark than before, and it is where the live music is.
Jerusalem Boulevard is where a Jaffa resident eats: flat, inland from the clock tower, restored for nobody's benefit, and priced for people who live there. Anyone with a spare hour and no appetite for another sea view should walk it.
The full list
Every place to eat we found in Jaffa
All 36 that Google Maps returned for this area, ranked by rating weighted for how many people rated it, so a five from three people does not outrank a four and a half from three thousand.
| Name | Kind | Rating | Ratings | Price | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TFWC | Coffee shop | 4.9 | 132 | n/a | Tel Aviv-Yafo |
| La JaffaLa Jaffa לה ג'אפה מסעדה | Restaurant | 4.9 | 107 | n/a | Tel Aviv-Yafo |
| El-Eliyya CoffeeEl-Eliyya Coffee | قهوة العلية | Coffee shop | 4.9 | 94 | n/a | Jaffa |
| Café NAS | Coffee shop | 4.9 | 87 | n/a | Tel Aviv-Yafo |
| DeliAlhambraDeliAlhambra - Local food and wine מעדנייה, קפה ויין. | Restaurant | 4.8 | 491 | n/a | Tel Aviv-Yafo |
| Jaffa Pizza Kitchen | Pizza | 4.8 | 381 | n/a | Tel Aviv-Yafo |
| Boutique Cafe | Coffee shop | 4.9 | 65 | n/a | Tel Aviv-Yafo |
| Kaaldi CoffeeKaaldi Coffee קפה קאלדי | Coffee shop | 4.9 | 57 | n/a | Tel Aviv-Yafo |
| Café Blue | Coffee shop | 4.8 | 166 | n/a | Tel Aviv-Yafo |
| Simhovich Cafe & Barשמחוביץ׳ קפה ובר | Coffee shop | 4.9 | 45 | n/a | Tel Aviv-Yafo |
| JOYS Coffee | Coffee shop | 5.0 | 21 | n/a | Tel Aviv-Yafo |
| Cafe Antiliaקפה אנטיליה, בר יין ופסטה יפואי cafe Antilia jaffa, wine & Pasta | Restaurant | 4.7 | 389 | n/a | Tel Aviv-Yafo |
| Layla coffee | Coffee shop | 4.7 | 114 | n/a | Tel Aviv-Yafo |
| Bektanaבקטנה | Cafe | 4.7 | 107 | n/a | Tel Aviv-Yafo |
| Yaffa Knafeh | Restaurant | 4.6 | 4,703 | ₪₪ | Tel Aviv-Yafo |
| Basma | Coffee shop | 4.6 | 640 | ₪ | Tel Aviv-Yafo |
| Kabakeh | Restaurant | 4.6 | 485 | n/a | Tel Aviv-Yafo |
| dama | Cafe | 4.6 | 209 | n/a | Tel Aviv-Yafo |
| OURO COFFEE SPOT | Coffee shop | 4.5 | 17 | n/a | Tel Aviv Jaffo |
| Vista Coffee | Coffee shop | 4.5 | 494 | n/a | Tel Aviv-Yafo |
| Yafa Cafe | Coffee shop | 4.5 | 517 | n/a | Tel Aviv-Yafo |
| Ada Hanina Cafe | Coffee shop | 4.5 | 712 | ₪₪ | Tel Aviv-Yafo |
| Captain Hook | Restaurant | 4.5 | 836 | n/a | Tel Aviv-Yafo |
| Fairouz Cafe | Coffee shop | 4.4 | 688 | n/a | Tel Aviv-Yafo |
| Cafe Almaקפה עלמה | Coffee shop | 4.4 | 1,167 | ₪₪ | Tel Aviv-Yafo |
| Fish & Chips | Seafood | 4.4 | 1,840 | ₪ | Tel Aviv-Yafo |
| Saint Georgeסנט ג'ורג' Saint George | Restaurant | 4.4 | 2,035 | ₪₪ | Tel Aviv-Yafo |
| Shabtai Hayafe | Fish restaurant | 4.4 | 2,149 | ₪₪ | Tel Aviv-Yafo |
| Cafe Puaa | Restaurant | 4.4 | 5,698 | ₪₪ | Tel Aviv-Yafo |
| Royal Grill for Jaffa | Restaurant | 4.0 | 23 | n/a | Tel Aviv-Yafo |
| JASIA | Asian | 4.3 | 1,728 | ₪₪ | Tel Aviv-Yafo |
| Raisaראיסה בשוק הפשפשים | Restaurant | 4.3 | 3,244 | ₪₪ | Tel Aviv-Yafo |
| Shaffa Bar | Restaurant | 4.3 | 3,323 | ₪₪ | Tel Aviv-Yafo |
| Kalamata | Greek | 4.3 | 3,526 | ₪₪ | Tel Aviv-Yafo |
| Faruk BaShuk | Restaurant | 4.3 | 3,689 | ₪₪ | Tel Aviv-Yafo |
| The Old Man and the Sea | Mediterranean | 4.2 | 10,984 | ₪₪ | Tel Aviv-Yafo |
Google Maps, retrieved . Ratings and counts move daily and this table does not: it is a snapshot, and it is here so the ranking above can be checked rather than taken on trust. Prices are Google's own price band, not a menu price.
Practical
What to know before you go
- Get the week the right way round. Saturday is a normal trading day for most Jaffa kitchens, and several close on a Sunday or Monday instead: Kabakeh's booking page opens it Wednesday to Saturday only.
- Book Friday and Saturday evenings before arriving. OnTopo is the platform nearly everything here uses, and the small rooms in the flea market fill before the large ones on the square do.
- Do the flea market twice. Morning for the stalls, after dark for the food and the music; they are two different economies using the same alleys.
- Decide the budget at the bottom of the hill. A fried fish lunch on the quay at Jaffa Port and a table with a sea view on Kedumim Square are a hundred metres apart and nothing like the same money.
- Let the salads arrive and order less than you meant to. In the Levantine houses the mezze comes unasked and belongs to the price of the main course, and a starter each on top of it is the standard visitor mistake.
- Tip ten to fifteen per cent on top. No service charge is normally added, and since 1 January 2019 the money has been taxable salary rather than a gift, so ask whether it can go on the card.
- Ask for tap water by name. It is safe and free, and bottled water will otherwise arrive and be charged for.
- If kashrut matters, read the certificate on the door. It is a dated paper document naming the body that issued it, and since 15 July 2026 only the Chief Rabbinate may issue one.
The figures
Numbers behind this page
Each figure carries the year it belongs to and links the source it came from.
| Measure | Figure | As of | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Israeli VAT, already inside every menu price | 18 per cent | 2025 | taxsummaries.pwc.com |
| Date restaurant tips in Israel became wages for tax and pension | 1 January 2019 | 2018 | timesofisrael.com |
| Knesset vote restoring the Chief Rabbinate's monopoly on kosher certification | 46 to 41, on 15 July 2026 | 2026 | timesofisrael.com |
| Weekly rest the 1951 Hours of Work and Rest Law guarantees | At least 36 consecutive hours | 1951 | en.idi.org.il |
| Year Ali Karavan opened Abu Hassan's shop on Ha-Dolphin Street | 1972, having sold from a cart since 1959 | 2026 | asif.org |
| Days a week Kabakeh's booking page opens it | Four, Wednesday to Saturday | 2026 | ontopo.com |
| Year Yaffa Knafeh was founded on Olei Zion Street | 2018 | 2026 | yaffaknafeh.com |
| Seats in the Alhambra cinema on Jerusalem Boulevard at its opening | 1,000, in May 1937 | 1937 | en.wikipedia.org |
The rest of the Jaffa guide
Sources and further reading
Every link below was opened and checked when this page was written. Official statements are marked as such: they are the subject's own account, not an independent one.
- OfficialOnTopoontopo.comKabakeh, booking and opening times
The restaurant's own booking page: its relationship to Ezba, its Kedumim Square address and the Wednesday to Saturday week.
- OfficialOnTopoontopo.comKalamata, booking and opening times
The Kikar Kdumim address, the name taken from the Greek town and its olives, the two-level room and the Friday and Saturday hours.
- OfficialThe Old Man and the Seahazakenvehayam.co.ilThe Old Man and the Sea
The 1999 founding, the daily salads and tabun pitta, and the fried prawns and calamari on its own menu.
- OfficialRaisaraisa.co.ilRaisa
The owner's statement about the room, the fish patties and lamb cigars, the seven-day week and the Saturday brunch hours.
- OfficialFaruk BaShukfaruk-bashuk.co.ilFaruk BaShuk
The Nakhman Street address, the happy hour, the Tuesday evening and Friday afternoon live music and the Friday brunch.
- OfficialJASIAjasia.co.ilJASIA
The two founders from Jaffa, the Japanese, Thai, Indian and Chinese menu, and the Greek Orthodox stone building on Louis Pasteur Street.
- OfficialYaffa Knafehyaffaknafeh.comYaffa Knafeh
The 2018 founding by Farah Abu Nijam and Shahada Abu Shahada, the knafeh with ice cream, and the second branch on Beit Eshel Street.
- OfficialFattal Hotelsfattal.co.ilThe Jaffa Hotel
The hotel's own statement that it is kosher and that Golda's is a kosher dairy restaurant, plus the 19th-century building and its architects.
- ReportingThe Times of Israeltimesofisrael.comKnesset passes law restoring Chief Rabbinate's monopoly over kosher certification
The 15 July 2026 vote and the reform it reversed, which is what a kashrut certificate now means and who may issue one.
- ReportingThe Times of Israeltimesofisrael.comCourt rules waiters must pay tax on tips, sparks fears of restaurant price rise
The National Labour Court ruling of March 2018 and the 1 January 2019 date from which tips counted as salary.
- ReferenceAsif: Culinary Institute of Israelasif.orgAbu Hassan Hummus
The 1959 cart, the 1972 shop on Ha-Dolphin Street, the triangle of hummus, ful and msabbaha, the morning hours and the two later branches.
- ReferenceIsrael Democracy Instituteen.idi.org.ilThe Shabbat Wars: A Guide for the Perplexed on the 'Status Quo'
The 1951 Hours of Work and Rest Law, the 36-hour weekly rest, and the Municipalities Ordinance power over restaurant and cafe opening.
- ReferencePwC Worldwide Tax Summariestaxsummaries.pwc.comIsrael: Other taxes impacting corporate entities
The Israeli VAT rate of 18 per cent, which is already inside every menu price.
- ReferenceWikipediaen.wikipedia.orgAlhambra Cinema (Israel)
The 1,000-seat art deco cinema on Jerusalem Boulevard, opened May 1937 to a design by Elias Al-Mor, and the performers it drew.
Where to eat in Jaffa: common questions
Is there anywhere kosher to eat in Jaffa?+
Very little, and only one entry in this guide states it. Fattal's page for The Jaffa Hotel describes the hotel as kosher and its restaurant Golda's as a kosher dairy kitchen, which makes the hotel dining rooms the realistic answer for a visitor who needs certification. Jaffa's restaurant trade is largely Arab-owned or seafood-based, neither of which points towards a certificate, and most places publish nothing on the subject. If it matters, read the dated certificate on the door, or eat in central Tel Aviv where the seafront hotels carry certified kitchens.
Do restaurants in Jaffa open on Shabbat?+
Most of them do, and Friday evening is one of the busiest services of the week. Israel has no national Shabbat law: the Municipalities Ordinance leaves opening to the local authority, and Tel Aviv-Yafo is permissive. What stops on Friday afternoon is the retail and the transport, the flea market stalls, the trains and the light rail, not the kitchens.
What actually closes in Jaffa on a Saturday?+
The shopping, not the eating. The flea market's second-hand stalls are the main casualty, along with public transport across the country from Friday afternoon to Saturday evening. Restaurants, bars and cafes trade through it, and several flea market rooms publish Saturday hours specifically, so a Saturday in Jaffa works well as a walking and eating day.
Where do people who live in Jaffa eat?+
Away from the harbour and the square, mostly. Jerusalem Boulevard and the streets running off it are flat, unrestored and priced for residents, which is where DeliAlhambra sits, and the hummus counters on and around Ha-Dolphin and Yefet Streets are a morning habit rather than a tourist stop. The flea market is genuinely mixed: locals and visitors in the same rooms, especially on a weekday evening.
Is the fish at Jaffa Port worth it?+
Yes, if you pick the right altitude. The counters on the quay at Jaffa Port fry what the boats land and cost very little; the restaurants a short climb above charge considerably more for a comfortable room, and the tables on Kedumim Square charge more again for the window. All three sell fish from the same sea. What differs is the seat.
Do I need to book a table in Jaffa?+
For Friday and Saturday evenings, yes, and for Saturday brunch. Nearly everything here takes bookings through OnTopo from its own website, and several places also answer a WhatsApp message. The small rooms in the flea market fill earliest; the harbour counters have nothing to book.
Where is the best hummus in Jaffa?+
The name that comes up more than any other is Abu Hassan on Ha-Dolphin Street, which Asif dates to a cart from 1959 and a shop from 1972, with two larger branches on Shivtei Israel Street. It sells hummus, ful and msabbaha and the house triangle of all three, opens at eight in the morning and closes when the food runs out, usually in the early afternoon. Treat it as breakfast, not lunch. It is not in the picks above because it is not in the listing snapshot this page draws its panels from.
Can vegetarians eat well in Jaffa?+
Unusually well, because the default opening of a Levantine meal is a table of vegetable dishes. Hummus, ful, msabbaha, tahini, aubergine, pickles, beetroot and hot bread will feed a vegetarian properly in almost every restaurant here without a single special request. Vegans should ask about labneh and yoghurt, which turn up in more dishes than the menu suggests.
How much does eating out in Jaffa cost?+
The range within one square kilometre is very wide, which is why this guide covers both ends of it. Whatever the bill, the printed price is the whole price: VAT has been 18 per cent since 2025 and is already inside the menu figure, and no service charge is normally added. Budget ten to fifteen per cent on top for the tip and carry some cash, because the market stalls often take nothing else.
Is Jaffa better for lunch or dinner?+
Both, but they are different neighbourhoods. Mornings and lunchtimes belong to the hummus counters, the flea market cafes and the harbour fry shops, several of which shut in the early afternoon. Evenings belong to the square, the fish restaurants and the flea market bars, which is when the live music starts and when the lanes are at their best.