it’s enough to hear the name of the place, Mifgash Osher – the happiness joint in Hebrew – to get a smile on your face. And when you go there, the smile just gets bigger: the workers are nice, the walls are covered with pictures of the clients and there are signs that say things like “there’s a free seat and it’s yours, so come say hello!”. It was established by two old friends that grew up together, studied cooking in Europe and cooked for a few fancy restaurants in Israel. They got tired and wanted to create something simple and, well, happy.

The food is very simple: falafel balls, a salad, and sabich: A Jewish-Arabic food that originates in Iraq. it’s a pita bread with eggplant, egg, hummus and tahini. In this place they made two versions of sabich that are different from the original one: with sweet potatoes and with cauliflower, which is my favorite dish.

There’s something about the combination of the really good vibes and the simple but good food that makes me come back every time!