Raising Spirits
Breakfast pastry with eggs and vegetables
Place: Tahanat Ruah, Kiryat Tivon
When: Wednesday morning
Environment: In the interest of full disclosure: This was definitely not my first time visiting Tahanat Ruah. But that gives me the ability to observe that on this visit, the place was oddly calm, as it is usually crazy crowded. Perhaps I showed up before the usual rush, although there was still a steady stream of patrons. This combo café-performance space is designed in an industrial style on the inside, with dark gray tile and mixed with wood to warm things up, wtih a raised wooden stage at one end. Some pictures adorn the walls, while a few hanging lampshades and track lighting brighten the vibe. However, on the outside deck, everything is done in a sunny yellow. Exposed shelving displays local goods for sale: coffee, wine, honey, and ceramics. The place serves food and coffee until mid-afternoon, and then shuts down. Many evenings, it reopens to host live shows. In its day vibe, there are lots of people sitting alone with their laptops. Ordering is done at counter and customers get a silent(!) beeper that flashes and vibrates when their order is ready. The water and flatware are self-serve. Despite being mainly do-it-yourself, the staff there are notably friendly. A chalkboard provides inspiring or thought-provoking messages that change regularly. On the day of my visit, the message was a tribute to Mati Caspi, who had recently passed away.
My Order: Breakfast pastry (NIS 56); small cappuccino (NIS 14).
The low-down: The coffee here was good! It was strong on flavor with thick foam: a cappuccino made of more than just milk. The phyllo pastry was a take on traditional bourekas. It was served warm and filled with a tangy vegetable and cheese mixture and sprinkled with flavorful nigella seeds on the outside. It came alongside wedges of hardboiled egg, lightly dressed vegetables and some dips – one yogurt based and one made of spicy peppers. Somehow, it seemed the tomatoes were extra sweet. The side of olives was very fragrant.
Who else was there: A pair of women sat engrossed in a serious conversation. One wore casual, light brown, heeled boots, matched with a brown sweater vest and striped long sleeve shirt and a scarf in her hair. The other woman wore light-colored jeans and sneakers, a thin green sweater, and hair swept up messily. Her fingers were covered with rings.
The second woman was leaning in close, listening to her friend's recounting of the difficulty she was having with her husband. He had been distant lately, and she wasn’t able to get through to him. It seemed they lost their ability to relate to each other, and she feared it was a result of their recently diverging lifestyles: She was spending her time working on mind-body connection through dance, and teaching their little children the same, while he was spending more time at work, managing distribution logistics. At the end of the day, they were in different places, and it seemed there was no bridge to be found. She needed some new perspective and ideas.
