The 5 Best Kosher Asian Restaurants in Jerusalem (2026)

Updated August 2026 · 5 picks

The best kosher Asian restaurants in Jerusalem in 2026 are Sushi Rehavia across its several branches, Japanika at Cinema City and Sheyan in the Rehavia windmill courtyard. Asian is the cuisine kashrut constrains hardest — no shellfish, and many standard sauces need certification — but Jerusalem has a solid certified scene across sushi and pan-Asian cooking. Every restaurant below names its certifying authority.

1. Sushi Rehavia — Azza Road, Emek Refaim, HaPalmach and the city centre

The city's default certified sushi, with a branch near wherever you are.

₪₪ Mid-rangeKashrut Rabbanut Yerushalayim

Sushi Rehavia grew from a single branch in Rehavia into the chain most Jerusalemites mean when they say sushi, with locations on Azza Road, Emek Refaim, HaPalmach Street and in the city centre.

The menu covers as broad a selection as certification allows. Without shellfish, salmon, tuna and vegetable rolls carry the range, alongside noodle dishes, soups and starters. It is consistent rather than remarkable, which for a neighbourhood chain is the correct ambition.

The spread of branches is the real advantage: whichever part of central or southern Jerusalem you are in, one of them is close by.

Good to know: No shellfish under kashrut — the salmon, tuna and vegetable rolls are where the menu is strongest.

Google Maps

2. Japanika — Cinema City

Japanese and pan-Asian cooking inside a fully kosher entertainment complex.

₪₪ Mid-rangeKashrut Rabbanut Yerushalayim

Japanika has been at Cinema City since 2014, serving sushi, starters, soups, noodles and grilled dishes in a room done out in warm wood and bamboo.

Its setting is what makes it particularly useful. Cinema City is a large entertainment complex that operates as a kosher site and closes for Shabbat, which is unusual at that scale — so a family can see a film and eat a proper Asian meal in the same trip without checking anything twice.

The menu runs wider than sushi alone, which suits a group where not everyone wants raw fish.

Good to know: Inside the Cinema City complex — easy to combine dinner with a film, and it closes for Shabbat like the rest of the site.

Google Maps

3. Sheyan — Rehavia, the windmill courtyard

Pan-Asian fusion in one of the most attractive courtyards in the city.

₪₪₪ UpmarketKashrut Rabbanut Yerushalayim

Sheyan sits in the historic windmill courtyard in Rehavia and works a fusion concept drawing on northern China, Hong Kong, Thailand and Japan — a wider brief than the sushi-led restaurants that dominate certified Asian dining in Israel.

That breadth is the point. Once shellfish and pork are off the table, a kitchen ranging across several Asian traditions has more room to build a full menu than one confined to a single cuisine, and Sheyan uses it.

The setting does a lot of work too. Rehavia is a leafy, largely residential district built in the 1920s and 30s, and the courtyard is a genuinely pleasant place to sit.

Good to know: Ask for a table in the courtyard rather than inside — the setting is half the reason to come.

Google Maps

4. Oshi Oshi — City centre

Quick, certified sushi for a casual lunch rather than an occasion.

₪₪ Mid-rangeKashrut Rabbanut Yerushalayim

Oshi Oshi is a casual certified sushi operation, built for speed and volume rather than for a long dinner — the format is closer to a takeaway counter with seating than to a restaurant.

That fills a real gap. Most certified Asian food in Israel is priced and staged as an evening out, and the everyday version — a quick sushi lunch between other things — is comparatively scarce.

It works best as exactly that: a fast, reliable, reasonably priced lunch in the middle of a day spent doing something else.

Good to know: Built for a quick lunch rather than a long dinner — useful between sightseeing stops.

Google Maps

5. Nini Hachi — Tel Aviv — worth the trip from Jerusalem

The most complete kosher Japanese menu in the country, an hour away.

₪₪₪ UpmarketKashrut Rabbanut Tel Aviv (regila); meat under Rabbanut Jerusalem

Nini Hachi is in Tel Aviv rather than Jerusalem, and it appears here because it is the most convincing kosher Japanese restaurant in Israel and Jerusalem has no direct equivalent — a full izakaya rather than a sushi counter.

As a bassari kitchen it serves meat and fish and no dairy, which lets it run hand-rolled sushi and sashimi alongside teppanyaki, wok noodles and kushiyaki skewers off the grill. Its meat is certified under the Jerusalem Rabbinate even though the restaurant sits under Tel Aviv's.

Jerusalem to Tel Aviv is under half an hour on the fast train, which makes this a realistic evening rather than an expedition.

Good to know: In Tel Aviv, not Jerusalem — but under 30 minutes on the fast train from Yitzhak Navon station.

Google Maps

Frequently asked questions

Why is Asian food difficult to keep kosher?

Three constraints stack up. Shellfish, squid, eel and crab are all forbidden, which removes a large part of the Japanese, Thai and Chinese repertoires. Many standard sauces — oyster sauce, fish sauce, some soy and mirin — need certification of their own. And dishes combining meat with dairy, or pork in any form, are out entirely. A certified Asian kitchen has to rebuild the cuisine around what remains.

Can you get real sushi at a kosher restaurant?

Yes, with substitutions. Salmon, tuna, sea bass and other finned fish with scales are permitted, so the core of a sushi menu survives intact. What disappears is shellfish — no shrimp, crab, eel or scallop — so kitchens substitute imitation crab made from permitted fish, or build rolls around salmon, tuna, avocado and vegetables.

Is the soy sauce kosher?

At a certified restaurant, yes — supervision covers ingredients as well as the kitchen, so the sauces on the table have been checked. Standard supermarket soy sauce is often certified too, but naturally brewed varieties can raise questions, which is exactly the sort of thing a hechsher resolves on your behalf.

Is Cinema City in Jerusalem fully kosher?

The Cinema City complex operates as a kosher site and closes on Shabbat, which is unusual for a large entertainment venue and was a deliberate decision when it was built near the government precinct. Its restaurants, including Japanika, run under certification, which makes it a practical destination for observant families wanting a film and a meal in one trip.

Are these restaurants open on Shabbat?

No. Certified restaurants close from Friday afternoon until Saturday night, and Jerusalem shuts down more completely than any other Israeli city. Motzei Shabbat is the compensating peak, when the city restarts and casual restaurants reopen, often late.

1. Sushi Rehavia — Azza Road, Emek Refaim, HaPalmach and the city centre

2. Japanika — Cinema City

3. Sheyan — Rehavia, the windmill courtyard

4. Oshi Oshi — City centre

5. Nini Hachi — Tel Aviv — worth the trip from Jerusalem

Frequently asked questions

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