In the annals of the State of Israel after October Seven, a place of honor will be reserved for Eilat. For more than seventy years, the southern city has symbolized here and around the world freedom, nature and spaces (and in recent decades, of course, vacations in Tel Aviv and luxurious hotels) has found itself at the forefront of hosting the evacuees and displaced persons from the communities surrounding Gaza and the north, together with Tel Aviv.
"At half past six in the morning I was getting ready to go to the synagogue and then I received a call from my son," says Yossi Chen, CEO of the municipal corporation for tourism in the city, "at eight we were all already sitting at Mayor Eli Lankri's, and the order to prepare for the arrival of the evacuees was given. We anticipated the catastrophe on the way and prepared accordingly. At 11:00 a.m. huge convoys of 'regular' guests already started leaving the city, and at 10:00 p.m. at night we received the first bus from Kerem Shalom and Nahal Oz."
He describes very difficult scenes - men, women and children with glazed eyes, minimal clothing, a bag with a few items, and that's it. "Within a week there were 40,000 in Eilat, and after a few days the number of evacuees, or the new residents as we call them, doubled. All the residents of Eilat got involved, all the businesses, everyone opened their hearts."
The war caught Eilat in the midst of a fundamental change - from a city that runs inside the big hotels, with the huge dining rooms, to more and more boutique hotels, those that allow tourists to experience the city itself, with a flourishing culinary scene, beyond the famous promenade.
In honor of all these, and as a token of appreciation to its people, I have collected for you a list of successful places to eat and visit the next time you come to the resort city. Some are right in the heart of the hotel areas. Some require a special trip out of town. Some are considered "locals' places" and are in the heart of Eilat neighborhoods, but all deserve a place of honor and at least one visit from the list.
1. With an open sea view: Indigo
The people of Eilat may remember the southern Ben Harosh beach that operated for many decades, until it was closed. The abandoned beach was finally destroyed in the great storm that hit Eilat in 2020 (and as if the corona didn't destroy all the tourism cards 4 years ago, the city also suffered from a huge storm that destroyed many facilities), and now, in the very same location, near the coral reserve, Indigo was opened by the developer A resident of the city of Gilead.
Indigo is one of the most spectacular beach restaurants in the country, which wants to be much more. This is a real restaurant that is open from nine in the morning and serves particularly expensive breakfasts at prices not found in the central area, until late in the evening on the waterfront (unlike all the beach restaurants in Eilat that close after sunset).
The restaurant has two parts - the indoor (and air-conditioned) part that serves a real chef's kitchen, and the part of the beach next to it, with chairs immersed in the clear waters of the bay for snacks and a glass of beer or ice cream. At Indigo you can spend a whole day alone, as a couple or with the children, rent a snorkel or a snorkel, take a shower and end the day with a proper three-course meal. And everything overlooks the sea, immersed in an atmosphere of vacation and freedom, with pleasant Israeli music and with a view that you can relax in front of all day.
Indigo, Derech Mitsrayim, Turquoise Alley 5, 08-615-0150
2. As there, but here: Thaistory
Thaistory was opened about a year and a half ago by the couple Nimrod and Keren Shaked, who have been operating the Italian Pastori in the same premises for two decades.
The place has 170 places, and all its cooks and chefs have undergone special training and traveled to Thailand to bring the beloved Asian cuisine to Israel. Here they are proud that their food is very faithful to the country of origin, with special vegetables grown for them in the Arava, with the only compromise made in the menu referring to the level of spiciness in several traditional dishes.
All the well-known classics of Thai cuisine also star here, and the hidden secret of the place is that there is also a sushi menu if you have that friend who wants a special roll. It is perfect to close the lunch for the whole famished family after the sea, and is also great as a romantic date full of cocktails for a couple in the evening.
Thaistory, Tarshish 9, 08-8581818
3. The local secret: Eilat Wines
In the heart of an industrial area, a professional wine shop was opened 11 years ago that was somewhat underground, under the unpretentious name "Eilat Wines". The store grew and developed, began to pour excellent wine on the spot, set up tables and chairs, open bottles and pour glasses for the wine-loving residents of Eilat.
Later, a kitchen was already added to the place and during the week sandwiches and salads are served here, while on Thursday and Friday the celebration increases with live performances on the spot and a chef's kitchen. How underground is the store still? Do not try to search their website, because it is not active (but you can contact them on social networks).
Eilat Wines, Haburseka'i 17, 08-6330155
4. Fish, and more: Varkada
One of the bad things about our country, which is located on beautiful beaches, is that there are not enough good fish restaurants (and we don't eat enough fish for a variety of different reasons). The Varkada restaurant, located inside the PLAY hotel, wants to try to change this equation in the southern city, which of course also has its own fish.
This is a fish restaurant established by the partner duo Dror Harush and Itamar Yitzhak Halevi, who have 20 years of restaurant experience under their belt. Now they present Stav Argon, a new chef, a graduate of the kitchens of Yuval Ben Naria (Taizo and more) and a chef from the Beer Sheva area.
"About 70% of our guests are residents of Eilat," Harush says, "the tourists who come are just an added value, so that we don't have to rely only on them in our crazy country." The restaurant Hachshara is based only on fish, and Argon was given a free hand, all the way to create a must stop for fans of fish and Italian food.
Varkada, Tarshish 2, 072-3341119
5. A real meat feast: CameLand
Have you heard of Came Ranch? If not yet, don't worry, because now is the time. This is not about camel tours with the children, but about what happens at the attraction in Nahal Shlomo, five minutes outside the city itself, when the sun sets and the spotlights illuminate the surrounding cliffs.
Once a week, the farm presents the "feast", a crazy event of smoked meats and cuts of meat on a huge grill, in a hall (air-conditioned of course) where the music plays, and you eat with your hands and dance non-stop from 20:30 until midnight. All this for NIS 320 per person, with unlimited alcohol, meat and other dishes.
"The Feast" has earned such a wild reputation that travelers and tourists plan their vacation to fall on the appropriate dates. Don't forget to arrive by taxi. Yes, the taxi drivers are already familiar with the phenomenon and know how to bring you to the farm gate in less than ten minutes, and also wait for you at the end of the evening.
Came Ranch's Feast, 08-6370022
6. Something to drink, something to wipe: The cafe at Hotel Shoshana
Just as in Tel Aviv or Haifa, completely urban culinary complexes are organically woven, this also happened in Eilat. On the modest and small Almogim Street in the city, several places are located opposite each other that are especially worth it - the original "Eddie's hideout" that was there before he moved, and now also Ohad Levy's famous Mamo restaurant that has already closed, Fortuna Pizza and the Breitman Boulangerie.
There is a lot of local crowd here that looks like it was pulled from the Florentine neighborhood or Sheinkin Street in Tel Aviv, a lot of good coffee and also the coffee of Hotel Shoshana which opened in October 2023, yes yes.
The cafe was opened by Tal Burns, whose family owns the hotel, and it operates independently. That is, you can go in and sit in it regardless of whether you are a hotel guest or not, and even wade in the pool, if you want.
Burns has a long history of managing Tel Aviv's Shiloh restaurant and he also owned Hummus, so the totally cool menu also includes two respectable Hummus dishes. Perfect if there are hummus addicts in the crowd who want to drag the whole family along, and that the rest could indulge in an elaborate breakfast, or only quality coffee, while assimilating into the local crowd.
Hotel Shoshana, Almogim 16, 08-6370305
7. The perfect pita: Shawarma Avshi
Are there any shawarma addicts in the crowd? I'm sure it is. Get to know Shawarma Avshi located on the sleepy Neviot Street in Eilat city itself (for the people of the Seven Traffic Centers, when I write "in the city itself", I mean a three-minute drive from the hotel area and a fifteen-minute walk).
Avshi also has an adjacent falafel that has been open for 15 years, but we're here for the awe-inspiring veal sih created in collaboration with shawarma expert Mordi Ghanem from Kfar Ma'ar. This is exactly how meat mythologies are created.
The skewer with the secret seasoning starts selling at 11 in the morning until it runs out, which happens around three in the afternoon. Did you arrive before four? Pray that you have a portion left, because afterwards "we close and go to the sea", as Avshi explained to me with a smile.
The place is polished to perfection, shiny, touch screens for online ordering and you go to pick up the perfect pita that is also baked on the premises. There is also a simple and popular air-conditioned space for eating together. Don't need more than that.
Shawarma Avshi, Neviyot 4
8. One of the best in Israel: Hamburger at The Whale
In 2016, it was a completely different restaurant that caused a wave of amazement among foodies across the country. Even if you arrived at the hotel with full board and considered yourself a gourmet, you went to eat at The Whale.
The restaurant was opened by the couple Inbal Shapira the confectioner and Lior Raphael the chef, my husband studied in the Cordon Bleu and worked in New York. They decided to return to Eilat, their hometown, and open their own place, and the beginning was humble - as children who shop at the supermarket's italia and workmen's meals, until little by little they began to aim higher and higher, until they became a real chef's restaurant.
Everything stopped with the corona closures that threatened to close the restaurant, and the energetic couple recalculated a course. "We called Eric Rosenthal, a friend of ours from Tel Aviv's Falafel 'The Magician', and we consulted him," Raphael told me, "He told us to look at our gourmet menu and asked what the two biggest hits were. Both we and he knew the answer - a hamburger and a prepared shrimpburger Only from shrimp."
The couple decided to embark on a new path and sell these two items in any way possible - in take-away to customers who came to the restaurant, at tables with spaces of two meters, the main thing is that the enterprise of their lives will not be closed. Today, it is already clear that The 'Whale' has become a hamburger institution, with a particularly crazy and corrupt menu, which even the addicts know is not among the best in Eilat, but among the most successful in the whole country.
The Whale, Derech Hayam 6, 08-9209393
9. A delicious treat: Red Sea Winery
Finally, a great recommendation for all wine lovers who want to pamper themselves with a perfect meal, surrounded by vineyards in the heart of the prairie, yes yes.
Red Sea Winery was established in 2006 by Uri Shahar at the entrance to Eilat. It is considered the southernmost winery in the northern hemisphere, and Shahar himself planted the vines surrounding the structure.
This is the place for lazy and happy family meals, groups of tourists and also just a reason to visit, to sit down to good food that goes great with the special wines that Shahar harvests and prepares. The winery offers several itineraries, hosted by Uri and his faithful wife Avital, starting with three wine tastings, and ending with a full itinerary with hospitality trays, great cheeses, a variety of delicacies and pastries and pizzas that come out of the oven.