Koreana Haifa

Koreana, on Independence Street 66, is Haifa’s first dedicated Korean restaurant — and only the third in all of Israel when it opened in July 2024. For the Korean community of the north, and for the growing crowd of Israelis who discovered Korean food through K-dramas and TikTok, it filled a gap that had meant a trip to Tel Aviv or nothing at all.

The story behind it is itself a piece of the Asian diaspora in Israel. Founder Konstantin Matkrimov is a 32-year-old immigrant from Uzbekistan and a quarter Korean — a descendant of the Koryo-saram, the Korean community displaced to Central Asia generations ago. Drawn to those roots, he spent roughly six years living in South Korea, absorbing the language and the cooking. In Israel he had built a career in medical tourism; when COVID and then the war hollowed that industry out, he turned back to the food he had always loved. To keep the kitchen honest, he flew in a chef from South Korea to train the local staff in the techniques he didn’t want to fake.

That commitment shows on the plate. The menu runs through the classics — bibimbap in a hot stone bowl, tteokbokki, japchae glass noodles, rich and sour jjigae stews — alongside traditional Korean banchan and Korean alcohol that, as the team warns, climbs to your head fast. Heat is central to the cuisine and Koreana will take it to full Korean intensity if you ask, but the kitchen also adjusts spice for diners still learning their tolerance. It is unusually accommodating otherwise, too: nearly every dish can be made vegetarian or vegan, and all but one are gluten-free, built on rice flour and sweet potato rather than wheat. Meals open with changing seasonal salads and, when the vegetables cooperate, house kimchi. The banchan that arrive before the mains — small, rotating side dishes — are part of the draw here, not an afterthought.

The room is small, homey and unpretentious — clean lines and a few quiet Korean touches rather than the themed decor the owners deliberately avoided. Mains sit in the mid-range, roughly 45–75 NIS, in portions built for the Korean habit of sharing. Koreana is in central Haifa, about a fifteen-minute walk from the Haifa Center HaShmona train station, which makes it a realistic destination for the Korean students, expats and curious northern diners who previously had nowhere closer than Tel Aviv to go. It keeps modest hours, so calling ahead is wise — especially if you’re travelling in from out of town. Follow @koreana_haifa for seasonal specials and menu changes.

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