Culinary legends: Tel Aviv's 30 most iconic dishes

The sophisticated market restaurant was one of the first to take the Balkan pastry–which had become a derogatory term for industrialized food–and serve it to diners in an especially upgraded and delightful manner. This is how the first Tel Aviv crab bourekas were created. Crab meat in a square of puffy pastry. Simple. Delightful. Wonderful.

This dish brings the heat with egg noodles, chunks of chicken in red curry sauce, coconut milk, green onions, peanuts and coriander, all mixed together to open up your nostrils and hearts. We can't begin to describe the pleasures of just one bite of this classic dish.

This XXX dish is so insanely tantalizing, it should be outlawed. The heavy cast-iron pot is filled to the brim with mussels, prawns, shrimp and calamari in tomato and white wine sauce and mixed with roasted vegetables for added color. Technically speaking, this is a dish for two, but with a glass of good wine it can easily double as a therapist session.

Chef Orel Kimchi created a dish that people come especially to the restaurant to experience, and return to experience once more. Inside bite-sized steamed buns lie miniature shrimp patties, Yuzu aioli, crispy lettuce and pickled red onion. The secret of the preparation is...we can't tell you that. You'll have to taste it to find out.

This is not your average sidewalk schnitzel. A simple dish like schnitzel can sometimes make a wild buzz. This is particularly remarkable when the buzz has been buzzing for decades–the story of the schnitzel at Café Noir. You get a large, thin piece of breaded meat next to light, fluffy mashed potatoes that compliment the protein perfectly. A Montefiore must.

Chef David Frankel adds a luxurious Tartufo spread imported from Italy, fine Parmigiana Regiano, and quality French butter to his handmade pasta. Is it any wonder as to why this is one of the most frequently ordered dishes at Pronto ever?

This is the cauliflower that carried Eyal Shani's name overseas...to Australia at least. Cooked in boiling water, the cauliflower then undergoes a deep olive oil massage bordering on sexual harassment, and finally receives a well-burnt finish. Watch out broccoli, there's a new kid in town.

This delicacy was served in Onami from the beginning, when Ali Grossman founded the restaurant. For the general public, the dish was defined as a soup, although the Japanese do not see it that way. The tofu dish is soaked in corn flour and fried until crispy on the outside, then soaked in a sauce that is too thick to be defined as soup. Grossman has kept the recipe top secret, and rightly so.

Tel Avivians cannot escape the perfect match between alcohol and ham and cheese toast at the Kerem's bumping establishment. Their bread is generously sprinkled with butter, topped with ham and a generous slice of cheese, which is melted in their toasty oven. Fresh tomatoes and cucumbers are severed by its side to create the illusion of health. A dish that has earned its status as the perfect drunk munch to end a sloppy evening with grace (actually, with more sloppiness).

You do not have to wait for winter to be pampered with chicken soup for the soul. This soulful soup is served with three hand-made meat-filled kreplach. Whether you're under the weather and need delivery straight to bed or your hungry for a taste of Safta, Shmulik Cohen is here to care for you.

This two-bite dish served on soup spoons is certainly amusing to the bouche. Taizu's Shanghainese Dumplings feature steamed dough filled with veal cheek, in a pomegranate broth and beef soup, topped with pistachio Masala. Handle with care! This tiny dish is so delish, you'll want to spoon it afterwards.

The doctor is in. One of Israel's most recognizable breakfast (lunch and dinner) staples holds a special place in Jaffa diners' hearts. This long-standing Middle Eastern establishment has the recipe down pat: the perfect combination of ripe red tomatoes, fresh chili, garlic, paprika, and eggs...just what the doctor ordered.

This Thai Eden is serving up the classic thinly sliced green papaya salad with tomatoes, seasoning, chopped peanuts, and fish sauce. It is the closest thing in Tel Aviv you can get to the real deal, which is a standalone dish in Thailand. Thai House's Som Tam has accompanied the restaurant from opening day and continues to hook customers left and right.

When owner Joe Marciano prepared a simple bass dish with paprika, garlic, and coriander, he did not think it would become an exceptional classic on Cantina's Italian menu.

NOTE: If you're not a spice addict, it is possible to adjust the level of spiciness to match your individual taste.

Brasserie's elegant version of this French staple is comparable to the Jewish penicillin: rich chicken soup with thin egg noodles and herbs (tarragon, chives, and parsley). One slurp of this consommé and suddenly the clouds will scatter and the world will look oh-so-beautiful.

One of the best reasons to go to Zepra is for the flavorful Healthy Buddha salad tossed with garden fresh vegetables, red cabbage, mint, coriander, chopped peanuts, and an apple vinaigrette. A dish that competes only with its spicy sibling, the Crazy Buddha salad.

Legend has it that Toto has a special pasta maker, 'blessed' with the magic touch, who has been preparing all the fresh pastas from the day the restaurant opened its doors. The secret to Toto's gnocchi may be their baking process–the potatoes are prepared with salt and combined with potato chips and ricotta. The chestnut adds much-desired tasting notes to the dish that sing out in harmony, "O Sole Mio"!

Only Coffee Bar could take a dish that has been on the menu since 1995 and keep it relevant. In their version of the Jewish classic, which today only exists on the de-liver-y and business lunch menu, the tender chicken livers are served on a bed of fluffy mashed potatoes enriched with cream and butter and roasted in balsamic vinegar with an arugula finish.

Brothers Assaf and Yotam Doktor promised to use only local ingredients in their Dok restaurant. The coal-roasted kohlrabi dish is the most spectacular realization of this promise. The kohlrabi is roasted in a charcoal oven, scorched a little from the outside to get that sweet caramelized finish, then immersed in quality olive oil, and served with Hame'iri cheese, poppy seeds, thyme, and a little hot pepper.

When you say "comfort food," what you actually mean to say is "this dish," which consists of a beef stock packed with a thousand flavors. Swimming around inside the broth are dumplings made from a thin dough filled with ground meat that has been fried up with onions–a Bukharian classic executed to perfection.