Café Asif – restaurant

Lilienblum Street, a weekday morning, and the room is already full. This is the café inside Asif, the Tel Aviv centre given over to Israeli food culture, and it cooks to that brief — Mediterranean and Middle Eastern, built on local produce rather than imported ideas. Shakshuka and breakfast plates give way to sandwiches, salads and shared dishes by midday; Friday brunch is its own event before the weekend closure. Grilled fish and braised liver hold the savoury end, honey tart and chocolate almond cake the sweet. The attached deli sells the oils, cheeses, breads and preserved fish behind it.

Rating: 4.4/50

Cuisine: restaurant

Price range: $$

Currently open