Summer or winter, there is never a day when one cannot appreciate the Balkan-style dish known as ikra. Made in the same way that Greeks make taramasalata, the dish starts off with lightly smoked fish eggs that are then pounded together with garlic, breadcrumbs, lemon juice and olive oil until the mixture attains a smooth consistency. The best ikra, like the best taramasalata, is invariably found in simple, inexpensive places where the quality of the food and not status is of primary importance. Because some of these places keep odd hours, one will be wise to phone in advance of coming.

Mifgash ha Balkan: Sderot Yerushalayim 43, Jaffa. After 50 years in the same location, Balkan food and this simple but excellent restaurant have become synonymous. The ikra, which chef-owner Yechiel Philosophe prepares on an almost daily basis may well be the smoothest, creamiest and most delicious you will ever find. If you go on to a fuller meal, try the moussaka, the meat soup, the herbed Bulgarian kebabs and then finish off with a few stuffed prunes and a glass of hot mint tea. Tel: 03 6830719.

Ma'ayan ha Biera: Rehov Natanson 4, Haifa. You will never find a place more basic than this beloved Haifa eatery at which you will often have to share a table with absolute strangers. On the other hand, the food here is exceptionally good and with lots of garlic and lemon juice, the ikra serves. as an excellent starter to a meal of grilled beef ribs and hot beef pastrami. If the restaurant is offering either grilled rabbit or roast suckling pig on the day of your visit, do not miss the chance to sample these treats. Tel: 04 8623193.

Taverna On The Beach, On the beach, behind the Dan Accadia Hotel, Herzliya Pituach: Call it ikra or, if you like call it taramasalata, but the offering here is so rich with garlic and salt that it will bring tears of joy to the eyes of anyone with fond memories of Greek islands. Make a full meal of mezes, adding to the ikra orders of the whole roasted garlic cloves, marinated and roasted sweet red peppers, the thick, just sour enough labane, and the rich green tchina. As a main course it is hard to beat the casserole of mixed seafood in which you will find an abundance of shrimps, mussels, baby calamari and crabs. Tel: 09 9597107.

Chaim Nelu, Rehov Eilat 11, Tel Aviv-Jaffa: Watch the regulars who have been coming here for thirty or more years and you will know that the ikra here is good enough to be considered orgiastic. Go with a group of friends and continue with the chopped chicken liver that has just the right amounts of fat and fried onions added. With that, be sure to try several of the fat pickled cucumbers, at least one pickled tomato and a generous pile of the truly tasty sauerkraut. The best bets for main courses here are either the herbed kebabs and the Patrician, a traditional Romanian sausage so full of fat and flavor that it seems miraculous. Skip the far too primitive chocolate mousse and bavarias that are offered for dessert. Tel: 03 5101919.

© Daniel Rogov