Restaurants

You don't have to look hard for a restaurant, whether simple or fancy, with a striking view of the Mediterranean. Fish, served with a variety of sauces, is usually grilled or baked. The most common types are locus (grouper), mulit (red mullet), churi (red snapper), and farida (sea bream). Also fresh, but from commercial ponds and the Sea of Galilee, are the ubiquitous tilapia, buri (gray mullet), and iltit (a hybrid of salmon and trout). Fresh seafood, such as shrimp and calamari, is available in abundance. Many casual restaurants serve schnitzel (breaded and fried chicken cutlets) with french fries, which kids often love.

Until recently, coastal restaurants weren't as refined as those in Tel Aviv, but no longer. Haifa now has several first-class restaurants with creative chefs. The artists' village of Ein Hod offers sumptuous Argentinean dining, and there's locally famous falafel in the Druze village of Daliyat el Carmel. Netanya boasts the area’s highest concentration of kosher establishments. Dress is always informal.