Top 5 Sushi Restaurants in Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv has become a bit of a sushi mecca in recent times, a position consolidated with the opening of Tel Aviv’s 100th sushi restaurant a few days ago. Wow, 100 sushi restaurants! To put it into comparison, Tel Aviv is now the world’s third largest sushi market in per capita terms, behind New York and, not surprisingly, Tokyo.

OK, so not all of the 100 restaurants are strictly concentrating on sushi - some 62 Japanese restaurants and eateries specialize in sushi only, while 25 specialize in take-away sushi, and another 13 restaurants where sushi forms a big chunk of the menu. But that’s still a lot of sushi!

Anyway, from that list of 100 we’ve selected the 5 we think you really should try. They, in our opinion, are the best sushi restaurants in Tel Aviv, they are also stalwarts of the Tel Aviv sushi scene that will probably still be around (credit crunch willing) when you come looking for some sushi. And we have even added a few at the end that just missed out on fame and glory on igoogledisrael.  

In no particular order…

• Kyoto: This place was where I was sushi christened. Sat at the bar with my wife, we were two newbies totally at the mercy of the friendly barman. He told us about all the different types of sushi, the different types of Japanese beer and saki and made us feel right at home. Since then we’ve been back and the service and food has been great, and although the place has a soft place in my heart it is still one of the finest sushi resturants in Tel Aviv.
  31 Montefiore Street, 03-5661234 (www.kyoto.co.il)
• Kai: I do believe this is the first sushi restaurant where I picked my faves from the revolving belt that circulates throughout the place, with different color plates for different prices. Loved the concept of “like what you see, take it”. The place is modern and fairly spacious, nicely designed and the sushi is great. I used to live just down the road from Kai, so the wife and I would often practice our new-found sushi skills here after a quick bike-ride. I’m sure many wouldn’t add this to the list of finest sushi restaurants in Tel Aviv, but for me it was king of the hill for a long time.
  HaBarzel 4, 03-6446485 (More details)
• Onami: This place has a great name in Tel Aviv sushi circles and is considered perhaps the finest of all in Tel Aviv. It’s not cheap, but the variety available is impressive. You should try their renowned Agadashi Tofu. I’ve been here a couple of times myself, but always left expecting more. Maybe I came at the wrong time of day or just ordered the wrong stuff…but others do rave about this place so give it a try.
  HaArba’ah 18, 03-5621172 (www.onami.co.il - takes a loooong time to load)
• Sushido: A great little place at the southern end of Rothschild Street the happening part of town, has a great atmosphere and the sushi is excellent. It’s been awhile since I was last here but it was great. A cool place that you could easily take a date to impress, the sushi is great, but not cheap. Also has a speedy home delivery service, so they say.
  Rothschild 15, 03-5177794 (More details)
• Moon: Another of the conveyor belt crowd, though Moon claims to be the first sushi bar in Tel Aviv to use this, and frankly, who are we to argue. Their use of the conveyor belt system promotes sitting at the bar because they only have 3 tables to sit at, which are often occupied. Great sushi, nice place.  My wife was particularly impressed by the couple of Israeli celebs she spotted in the place. They also have a good delivery service which shouldn’t be sneezed at. 
  Bograshov 58, 03-6291155 (More details)

So there you go, the 5 best sushi restaurants in Tel Aviv. Hope you’ve got your chopsticks primed and ready. And please feel free to let us know of any hidden gems that we might have missed out…hopefully the following list includes some of those brave attempts but not quite Top 5 restaurants… 

• HaSushiya: If ever a website was going to tempt me to go buy some sushi, this is the website 
• Yakuza: Good mix of Asian foods, with good service and some excellent sushi  
• Yoko: Out on the town in downtown Florentin, you’ll want to end up here 

One thing I have noticed - a lack of English restaurant websites, and even a lack of the bare essentials in English. Guys, get it together, tourists and visitors to Israel also like sushi!