Izakaya Karkur

Izakaya is the kind of place that, by rights, should not be in Pardes Hanna-Karkur. A genuine Japanese tapas bar — the small-plates-and-sake format that Tokyo runs on — usually demands the foot traffic of a big city. Here it sits on HaMoshav Street, in a small town better known for its arts scene and weekend market, and that incongruity is half the story. Critic Gil Gutkin wrote in Haaretz that this is the sort of Japanese street food you used to have to fly to Japan — or at least to London or New York — to eat. You can now do it on a Thursday night in the Sharon countryside.

The restaurant is the work of chef Kyo Okuda, who was born and raised in Tokyo and came to Israel roughly two decades ago. Her path into Japanese cooking was indirect: she started out as a pastry chef specialising in organic sourdough, then built a reputation across the country running Japanese kitchens in Kfar Saba and Caesarea, plus pop-ups, food stalls and culinary consulting, alongside the cooking workshops she still teaches. Izakaya is her own place at last, opened in late 2024 as a deliberately intergenerational project: she runs it with her daughter, Naya H. Sela, who manages the floor and the drinks programme, with Shai Carmeli as sous chef.

What lands on the table is precise rather than showy. The sushi has a local reputation as some of the best in Israel, and reviewers single out the rice — pressed neither too tight nor too loose — as the tell of a serious kitchen. Beyond the maki, the signature dish is the crispy rice nigiri topped with spicy salmon tartare, red miso and finger lime that pops on the tongue. The tan tan men, a rich chicken-and-sesame broth ramen, gets described as tasting like “an ancient Japanese home.” Around those sit wakame salad in sesame vinaigrette, addictive Japanese pickles, tempura white fish with shiitake, and yakitori and robata skewers. Naya’s side of the menu runs to sake, plum liqueur and Okinawan whisky, with a coconut-yuzu cream to finish.

Practically: mains sit in the mid-to-upper range, and the room fills on Thursday evenings, so booking ahead is wise — especially if you’re driving in from Haifa or the coast. Delivery and self-collection cover Pardes Hanna-Karkur and the surrounding area, and the kitchen takes Friday sushi-platter orders by WhatsApp. For the Asian community of the north and centre, and for anyone who had written off small-town Israel as a Japanese-food desert, Izakaya is a real destination. Follow @izakaya_karkur for specials and platter announcements.

Read our full review