Hiba Restaurant in Tel Aviv Serves Up Elevated Design

2023 Best of Year Winner for Fine Dining

Like the subtle Mediterranean-fusion cuisine it serves, the 2,700-square-foot Hiba Restaurant in Tel Aviv, designed by Pitsou Kedem Architects, reveals itself gradually. Ushered down an arched corridor, arriving guests get intermittent glimpses of the kitchen and 40-seat dining area—a single, continuous space—through a gridlike oak screen inspired by the wood-latticework partitions in traditional Islamic architecture. The same grid clads the dining-area ceiling and external wall, anchoring a palette of natural materials that includes more oak for furniture and paneling; polished concrete for flooring and as a finish on various built-ins; and granite, both rough and smooth, for a series of massive islands—flexible elements that can be used as food-preparation surfaces, waiter stations, or, topped with an oak slab, a dining counter, further integrating the seamless cooking-serving-eating experience.

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Avital Shenhav-shani.