For those who like to eat, the trip to Israel is a treat for the eye, stomach and soul. First, almost everything you see before eating is very colorful, has a lot of personality with intoxicating aromas. Second, because everything has a lot of reference in Arab roots, which I particularly think is "the mother" of all kitchens in the world (just think about the Persian civilization, among others).

I have already imagined myself living in Den Haag inumerous times, not only because the cost of living is infinitely lower than the capital Amsterdam, but also because it has a very special personality, far from a certain chaos that inhabits Amsterdam. If I were living there, these would be the places I would certainly most often go to:

Any city that is clearly growing has new restaurants opening one after the other. But what makes a restaurant cool can’t be just its food. It is the ambience, the service, the way the staff make their customers feel good, the décor. Here is my list of favorite restaurants, some are new, others, not so much.

The way the Dutch have been interacting with food is completely different from what it was four years ago. And way much better! I apologize to my Dutch friends, but the truth is their gastronomy used to be one of the less appealing in the world. Some food habits are hard to understand, but they justify this issue.

All my friends I spoke to about Jerusalem recommended the same: you must know the Mahane Yehuda restaurant. And when I returned from Israel, they and others would ask the question: did you go to the Mahane Yehuda restaurant? Today I understand why. It is one of the most unique and special restaurants I have ever visited.

Just like in Brazil, the cuisine in Tel Aviv is going through a moment of great visibility and evolution. Food there is fashionable and much better today than it was a few years ago. People go out to eat more, spend more money, chefs become celebrities, food markets are a meeting place, street food has become cool.

The Dutch pragmatism is something easily associated with creativity, I believe, in most of the times. Their culture preserves simple habits that always find ways to achieve a low-key lifestyle, full of joy and social/work opportunities. I carefully selected three places that follow this philosophy and present themselves much more than a restaurant-bar.

One of the most interesting ways to get to know the local food is visiting food markets and street fairs: a tip that would seem obvious, if it was not for the conceptual change that these types of food centers have been going through.