February 12, 2026
A restaurant in Damascus serves kosher food
צילום: האינסטרגם של ניק מדוק
A new restaurant in Damascus, Syria, has started serving kosher food.
The restaurant is located inside a five-star hotel called Royal Semiramis.
It is a luxury hotel that reopened in April 2025.
After the hotel's opening, a Jewish-American family visited the place.
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They discovered there was no kosher food and ate only fruits. Following this, the hotel owner decided to offer a kosher menu for Jewish guests.
The restaurant is currently the only place in Syria serving kosher food. There are very few Jews in Syria. But since the fall of Assad's regime, more Jews have been visiting. There is a demand for kosher food.
Bachor Simantov is one of the members of the Jewish community in Damascus. He said the restaurant imports kosher meat from America. He said they separate kosher utensils from non-kosher ones.
An American influencer filmed the kitchen and posted a video. He showed a sign indicating utensils for kosher dishes. He wrote that the kitchen is among the cleanest he has seen in Damascus.