The inner yard behind the great synagogue on Alenby street, near Rothschild boulevard, used to be a place of pressure relief for many of the Tel-Aviv inhabitants who forgot to go to the bathroom at their last beer drinking location. Today, however, the only pressure relief you can get there is for your culinary urges.

The center of this Bar-Restaurant kitchen, Santa Katarina, is a giant white taboun oven, where most of the dishes are made. The menu is not huge, but offers a variety of Mediterranean dishes in all kind of serving types. Tip: share the dishes so you can enjoy more flavors.

I really like the fact that you are in a quiet spot, but still, right in the center of Tel-Aviv’s nightlife. In addition, the informal atmosphere allows you to use it as a pre-hangover meal (basically, the pre-hangover meal is your last chance to avoid a massive headache the next day), but also as a place for casual mid week celebrations.

I use it a lot as the restaurant for the third date, it might not help for a tourist who comes here for a 4-5 day vacation in Tel-Aviv (unless he’s really quick), but that’s what I do.