The Asian Deli is located in Hod Hasharon, not a city famous as a culinary center. However, we’ve been interested in this place ever since it opened so took the opportunity to come when we were in the area.

The Asian Deli sounds like a restaurant, but sitting there feels more like a street sushi place, or maybe a fast food chain. This says nothing about the food though, which was pleasantly surprising. We were not in the mood for noodles or sushi and wanted to sample as many dishes as possible so we shared a few small plates.

We started out with Salmon tartar with ginger, avocado, red onion, crispy Shallot onion and miso sauce (35₪\$9), as well as Chili pop shrimps – shrimp cuts with tempura and chili pop sauce (39₪/$10). The tartar didn’t feel too fresh, which is a shame considering that should have been its highlight. The chili pop shrimps were nice to munch on, but were served in a bowl with green leaves, between which the tiny shrimps kept falling. It was rather annoying to have to dig through these inedible leaves to find them. Nevertheless they were fried well, weren’t too oily and were pretty tasty with the kick from the chili pop sauce.

We continued with steamed Chinese buns with duck, Japanese mayo, pickled lettuce, cucumber and onion (39₪/$10). Steamed buns are one of my favorite dishes and I’m always excited to taste more. The buns were okay, but not at the same level as at The Bun, for instance.

Next up were Shrimps and Ginger Dim Sum (39₪/$10). A cute dish, but the dough was a bit too thick for our taste, and overall priced too high.

We chose Somersby Apple Cider (25₪/$6.5) to drink along with the meal. Nice and refreshing.

For desserts we had Coconut Malabi with fresh fruit salad and sugared coconut chips (35₪\$9). The idea was intriguing, but somewhere in preparation it lost direction. The coconut malabi itself was really tasty, but it swam in too much passionflower juice, and was hidden by a mound of fruit which really distracted from the Malabi flavor. A bit less of everything would really improve the desert. We also had the Creme Brulee with lemon grass and ginger (on the house). The Creme Brulee was well executed, and the lemon grass and ginger added an interesting twist. I would have preferred to have some more of those unique tastes but I guess this way it’s more fitting for the Israeli palette.

If there’s one thing the Asian Deli excels, it’s the service. The staff was knowledgeable, friendly and courteous – and goes a long way towards making patrons feel welcome.

The Asian Deli is a casual food joint – a good option for locals to go and eat out from a diverse menu. We were happy to have such a place in our neighborhood. Overall we had a nice experience and the food was good, even though we managed to nitpick our way through every dish. They have an actual deli inside where you can buy ingredients and prepared food to take with you and that’s definitely a plus.

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