The Hadar Mall is not known as a culinary destination, although it has branches of several chain restaurants, such as Waffle Bar and Café Greg. But now, with the opening of Nei Gong, it may become one.
Owners Yotam and Oshrat own several other restaurants in the mall and put a lot of thought into the design and the menu. The Asian fusion restaurant is on the first floor, and the lovely modern design makes you feel that you are not in the middle of a busy mall. I recently met two friends for lunch who live outside of Jerusalem, and we were impressed with the food and the atmosphere of Nei Gong.
My friends are wonderful but have one (food) flaw – one is mostly vegetarian, and the other pescatarian. But their food preferences gave me a chance to try some of Nei Gong’s offerings that I would not have usually ordered. There are plenty of vegan and vegetarian options, all clearly labeled on the menu, so this is a great place to take your vegan friends.
A great place to take vegan friends
In most restaurants, I prefer the starters to the main course, so we went heavy on the appetizers and shared two main courses. We started with an order of Nems (NIS 56) – fried Vietnamese spring rolls with chopped chicken and bean noodles. This was crispy, perfectly spiced, and something I will order again.
We also tried the Beef Gyoza (and my mostly vegetarian friend even fell off the wagon for this one), which are pockets of dough filled with shredded beef, cabbage, and green onions. Three pieces costs NIS 48, which is not cheap, but it was really good.
The one disappointing starter was the Shiitake Bao Buns (NIS 52), small buns filled with shiitake mushrooms and truffle mayonnaise. I felt there was too much dough, and I couldn’t taste the truffle mayonnaise.
There is an extensive sushi menu, and I chose the Maguro (NIS 68), which is tuna and asparagus, topped with more tuna. The proportion of fish to rice was good, and the rice was made nicely. While not the best sushi I’ve ever tasted, it was pretty good. There is also fried sushi and a large selection of non-fish options. There are also poke bowls (which the English menu has as “Pokey Balls”) for NIS 68, although I’m still wondering what “decent salmon cubes” are meant to be. Any ideas?
For the main course, I ordered the Umami Beef Truffle Noodles (NIS 78), which are wide noodles with a nice amount of beef that was soft and velvety, along with Portobello and shiitake mushrooms. The portion was large, and I took the leftovers home for lunch the next day.
My friends chose the Lo Mein Tofu Noodles (NIS 72), which are egg noodles with tofu, cabbage, carrots, and green onions. They were also good.
There are also soups, curries, and even a hamburger, which looked good.
If you are having a party, you can order large trays of sushi ranging from NIS 120 for three vegetarian rolls, to 12 rolls for NIS 560, which is a good deal for a lot of food.
For dessert there is Japanese mochi ice cream for NIS 28, but we were too full to even try it.
They also offer delivery on 10bis and Wolt, and they plan to offer a business lunch soon. Overall, a great choice for anything from a quick lunch to a romantic date night. I will be back soon.
- Nei Gong
- Hadar Mall, first floor
- 26 General Pierre Koenig St., Jerusalem
- Sunday-Thursday, 11:30 a.m.-9:30 pm.; Saturday, opens an hour after Shabbat.
- Kashrut: Badatz Beit Yosef and Mehadrin Jerusalem Rabbinate
- Note: All meat is halak.
The writer was a guest of the restaurant.