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.
The first time I went to Artis was wintertime. Dry leaves, empty, rainy, a bit sad, and the restaurant was closed. But the flamingos lining around a lake warmed my soul and it was exactly what I needed on that cold Sunday afternoon. Flamingos: I never thought I was going to find these animals so gracious in person.
Basically, the most interesting restaurants, bars and pizzerias in Palermo are in the Old Town Center, known as Borgo Vecchio. There are other very nice places outside this area, but I recommend exploring this region that has a huge historic and cultural richness.