Four New Food Spots Open at Sarona Market, Including a Smoked Salmon Stand

Sarona Market in Tel Aviv has recently added four notable new businesses: a 30-year-old skewer shop that moved from Rothschild Boulevard, a fast-casual branch of a celebrated sushi place from Tayibe, a smoked-fish stall said to serve Israel’s best smoked salmon, and a pizza branch with the city’s biggest dough room.

Tomo, described as Israel’s first nigiri bar, opened at Sarona Market last week as a fast-food version of Hamedi Haj Yahia’s small Japanese restaurant in Tayibe. The menu focuses on nigiri with a wide range of fish, including hamachi and toro tuna, and also offers rolls priced at 47 to 82 shekels, sashimi, maki for 26 to 33 shekels, and yakitori skewers of toro tuna and salmon in miso with yuzu radish and ginger. The kitchen is designed like a full restaurant workspace, the interior is minimal Japanese style with branding by Shahar Bohdana, and there are self-service ordering stations for customers in a hurry.

Petersiliah, a family restaurant that operated on Rothschild Boulevard for 31 years, moved after its building was marked for demolition. Owners Sharon and Alin Yiritz brought their staff with them, including the cook who has worked there for 30 years and the counter employee who has worked there for a decade. The menu stayed the same, but the new branch is self-service and the grillman calls out orders over a microphone. It serves skewers for 69 shekels, pita dishes for 48 to 68 shekels, the famous hummus for 42 or 58 shekels with meat, stuffed dishes for 48 shekels, oshplao for 38 shekels, and a five-item side platter for 62 shekels. It is open daily until 5 p.m., and on Fridays sells prepared food and salads by weight.

Leah Tzarfati, who immigrated from Montreal, Canada, and has six children and more than 20 grandchildren, began smoking salmon after failing to find the flavor she loved from childhood in Israel. What started as a personal effort grew into a factory in Shilat, where her team smokes salmon and other fish in wood. She arrived at Sarona Market six months ago. The stall sells delicately smoked salmon, potato salad with herring, smoked tuna, smoked cod roe, smoked trout, smoked fish platters and deli items, plus bagels with cream cheese and salmon for 69 shekels, herring sandwiches for 59 shekels, gravlax sandwiches, and a tasting plate of smoked fish and salads for 60 shekels.

Pizza Har Sinai also opened in the market, joining its branches in Nahalat Binyamin and Big Glilot as it prepares another opening in Kiryat Ono. The Sarona branch is especially large, with high ceilings and a glass-walled dough room where two workers manually divide 100 kilos of pizza dough into balls. Like the other branches, it sells the same giant pizzas cut into four slices.