In the art district of Jaffa.

It took me just 45 minutes to drive down from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv. As I approached the city limits I realised why it was called the �white city�, the streets are dominated by the unique Bauhaus style of building something that won it a world heritage site status by UNESCO in 2003. Apparently, many of those who arrived here in the 1930s were German intellectuals who were escaping from Nazism and among them were architects who had been influenced by the Bauhaus school of architecture. It was they who were responsible for the look of early Tel Aviv.

My minder, Paule Kedem - Rakover, a very knowledgeable guide with Israel Toursim took me for an �art walk� down Rothschild Boulevard and the art district in Jaffa. The reconstructed areas of Neve Tzedek and Ehad Haam and Lilinblum streets are essentially small in size, so touring on foot is the most viable option.

Herzl Street in Florentine is known as the place to go to for furniture shopping. Many of the back alleys of Florentine are filled with furniture workshops.

Inside Nana restaurant, dining is a truly pleasurable experience!

The famous Dizengoff Street and its Dizengoff Center are where all Tel Avivians meet after sunset. Tel Aviv is also home to one of the world�s greatest orchestras, The Israel Philharmonic as well as the famous Habimah Theater Company. There are numerous cinemas, art galleries, theaters, historical buildings including other places of interest such as the Great Synagogue, the Carmel Market, the Shalom Tower, the Diaspora Museum and the Beit Hahaganah. On Rochach St. you can see �Beit Hasofrim� (House of Writers), which housed many famous writers and is now the Nachum Gutman Museum. Just across the street you can see Tel Aviv�s first movie theatre the �Eden� opened by Tel Aviv�s first mayor, Meir Dizengoff, in 1913, which held up to 1100 people. Today unfortunately it is a storage area for one of Israel�s leading banks. The house of Haim Nehman Bialik, Israel�s national poet is located in Bialik Street, and is now a museum that tells his story.

I learnt during my sojourns that Tel Aviv is Israel�s youngest city. But, interestingly it is also one of Israel�s oldest. It actually began 5,000 years ago as part a garden suburb of the old Arab port town of Jaffa and was later spawned out of it only about a hundred years ago.

Primus stoves for decor? How quaint!

As history goes, in 1909, sixty families bought a plot of land stretching from Neve Tzedek to the banks of the Yarkon River, some six miles away. The land consisted of sand dunes overlooking the Mediterranean. The new settlement was called �Ahuzat Bait� but later came to be known as Tel Aviv, which means �Hill of Spring.� It was considered a fitting name for the first all-Hebrew speaking city in modern Israel.

It is interesting to know how the first modern Jewish city was born. Mayor Meir Dizengoff, remained in charge of the city from 1910 to 1937. Today, he has a street, a fountain and a shopping mall named after him.

In 1921, anti-Jewish riots broke out in Jaffa in response to the growing number of Jewish immigrants. This convinced many Jews to leave Jaffa and settle in Tel Aviv. By 1926, Tel Aviv�s population had swollen to 40,000 residents, by the 1930s, it was home to over 100,000 inhabitants. In 1947, the UN voted to give Jews a homeland in Israel and on the 14th of May, 1948, Israel declared its statehood. In 1950, the Tel Aviv municipality united Tel Aviv and Jaffa as joint cities.

But Tel Aviv is not just history. Present day Tel Aviv is one of the liveliest cities I have seen. And, if I had to name a place that is the centre of Israeli culture, it would be Tel Aviv. In addition to being the hub of the country�s finance and fashion, industry and trade, it has more caf�s and restaurants per square meter of sidewalk than can be imagined.

Chef Hadassah Wolf of Comme Il Faut.

The rich night life is pulsating with clubs, restaurants, coffee shops, or smoke-filled bars. The food here is literally a gourmet�s delight. The ambience of Middle-Eastern cuisine with traditional Jewish cooking from the four corners of the world has led to a fast growing food culture.

The bustling eateries on the cobbled promenades are absolutely enchanting with their uniquely designed fa�ades and old-world charm. One of them displayed an old Jewish proverb, �Eat and drink for tomorrow you may die�. Yes,Tel Aviv is a gourmet destination. In most restaurants the approach is �perfect taste-to prefect presentation�.

Every small eatery will have the standard falafels, tahini, hummus, but somehow it just tastes very different, very special. The restaurants are just as varied as the cuisine; serving all budgets, whims and palettes. So, the question was, which of the restaurants should I focus on? I left it to my friend Liora Zonshine, who lives in two cities, Bombay and Tel Aviv and is at home in both.

Renowned Chef Nir Zook of Tel Aviv�s famous restaurants - Cordelia, Noa Bistro and the Jaffa Bar.

Our first stop was at Cordelia. Situated in Jaffa in an old building from the Ottoman times with open girders painted blue, with air conditioning ducts moving around overhead like giant silver snakes. The place belongs to Chef Nir Zook who�s the blue-eyed boy of Tel Aviv. Due to the popular food shows that he hosts on TV, he is slightly the irreverent sort. �I never wear a cooking garb, don�t like it. I need to be free. I like to look and feel sexy to cook well.� Cordelia has a nice feel to it and Nir�s menu is diverse, everything I ate there was mind-blowing. I hopped across to his Jaffa Bar next door which also has great atmosphere and is considered to be the most hip and happening place in Tel Aviv right now.

The delicious fare at Mul-Yam.

I had a rather leisurely lunch at Mul-Yam which means �facing the sea�. For ten and a half years this understated restaurant stood at the edge of nowhere in the middle of the ruins of the Tel Aviv port. Now, with the surroundings all refurbished, Mul-Yam is toasted probably as Tel Aviv�s best restaurant and its most expensive. It is a fish and sea-food only restaurant and wow! What a specialty place this is. They import Salmon from Norway, Tuna from Sri Lanka and Spain, Red Snapper from New Zealand, Oysters from France, Mussels from Netherlands and Calamari from good old India. Chef Yoram Nitzan creates magic with all this assorted catch.

Proprietor Shalom Maharovsky with his son Ariel. Mul-Yam is one of the best restaurants of Tel Aviv.

Mr Shalom the charming well-travelled proprietor of this place has been in the business for 30 years and says quite simply, �I like food so I started restaurants.�

Nana is very unusual. It is one of those places which has atmosphere. With different levels of seating spaces, it is a restaurant that has everything - from a bar to an indoor garden to a very exclusive dining room area, which resembles a duchess�s boudoir. It is situated in an old neighbourhood of the city which has been restored, called Neve Tsedek. Over the years the old, poor people of this area moved out and the rich, trendy ones came in. Today, around here you have cafes, bars, designer boutiques and galleries.

Comme Il Faut, where ladies run the show!

Next on our list was The Comme Il Faut Caf�. Ideal for sitting with friends over a glass of wine and a light lunch, it offers the perfect setting for an organic breakfast or for closing the evening with fine food, drink and music facing the waves - it�s right on the water�s edge.

It is conceptualised by the owners of a Tel Aviv fashion design house of the same name (a showroom is in the spacious, adjacent section of the cafe�s wooden pavilion).

Lentil soups in a cup!

Doktor Shakshuka is an egg restaurant. As you enter the restaurant you find yourself standing under hundreds of old primus kerosene stoves. You walk past the open kitchen into a large seating area which resembles an ancient courtyard. It�s a hearty kind of a meal that you can eat here, eggs broken into tomatoes and onions, garlic and peppers and spices, to be eaten with chunky fresh bread. You can see it�s a favourite with the locals. Tel Aviv is a fun city.