Bagel Café Breakfast, Also Lunch

I have some good friends I meet regularly for all sorts of enjoyable activities. Yesterday's plan was a festive breakfast "out."

We decided that the most convenient location would be the Hadar Mall in Talpiyot. The big problem was to choose which of the many restaurants there. Until just a few months ago, there wasn't much choice, but now they've opened what could be called a third "food court" by the main entrance of the building on Pierre Koenig Street.

Choosing where to eat wasn't easy with so many restaurants. I checked out some via the internet, and we ended up at the Bagel Café, which has a nice large section by the front door.

There's a rather daunting, large selection of food to choose from, special breakfasts and the regular menu. At first glance, it's not cheap, but then I realized that I could "kill two birds with one stone." Since many of the breakfast choices contain too much food, which is why my friends weren't interested, I ordered the Israeli Breakfast.

The above photo doesn't even show all the food served to me. There was also a cookie, which I should have trashed. In the right hand upper corner of the above picture you can see a bit of a bagel. The first thing I did was to make myself a sandwich, tuna, salad and some cream cheese. That was put aside, later packed for my lunch. The remaining food was delicious, filling and kept me going until I got home after 3pm. All I ate, just before a 12 noon class in Matan, was an apple and cup of water. So, even though I spent more than I had hoped for breakfast, I really got two filling meals from it.

The wait staff was polite, but not all that professional. First of all, they should have asked me if I wanted to start or end with my coffee. They started by bringing me coffee and the cookie. The cookie wasn't worth the calories, and I'm sorry I ate it. And my carrot juice wasn't brought with the rest of the food, besides the fact that it should have had been served, or offered, first. I had to remind the staff that it was part of the breakfast. One of my friends had very clearly requested that she get a salad without any tomatoes. But the salad had tomatoes, so she sent it back.

The food was much better than a recent lunch I had at the Emek Refaim branch. Maybe it was the processed fish, we had eaten that had an awful salty aftertaste. This time I ate none of that.

We were all happy with our breakfasts. It was a nice treat.

Bagel Café
Hadar Talpiot Mall, Jerusalem
Sun-Thu 6:30- 23:00
Friday 6:30 -14:00
One Hour After Shabbat Till 23:00
1-700-500-751

New Watch!

I'm probably more surprised than you are that I bought a new watch. I went into the Hadar Mall in Talpiyot today with a friend, during our break in Matan.  I went from store to store asking if they have watches. No, I didn't go into any fancy jewelry stores. We decided that I'm better off with another inexpensive one.

In the stores that had watches, I didn't see any I liked. One had some childrens plastic digital watches. The price was right, NS30, but they looked awful. And I didn't want a digital watch. A digital watch must be "read," while the old fashioned watch face just needs a glance. I don't even need numbers.

Finally we walked into an inexpensive jewelry/accessory store which had a nice selection of watches for only NS49.90.  That's probably less than $14 including tax. I picked one out.

The name of the store, a chain I presume, is TOPTEN ACCESSORIES, and when I went to pay, the salesgirl saisd that it only cost NS29.90, as does most all the necklaces. So, I bought myself a necklace, too. That is only about $8-  Yes, that's it. It cost less than the price of a watch battery. No complaints there, and she said that if it stops, they'll replace the batter for free.

Of course, I wonder how long it will last...

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #13, Hadar Mall: What Public Toilets Should Be

This is a continuation in my ongoing series about public toilets in Jerusalem. See #12, #11, #10, #9,  #8, #7,  #6,  #5, Saved by The First Station aka #4a, #4, #3, #2 and #1

The Hadar Mall is in the Talpiyot neighborhood of Jerusalem, not far from Emek Refaim. You can find almost anything you want in the Hadar Mall, such as my favorite meat restaurant, Gingi's, all sorts of clothing and household shops, OK the same chains you find all over, Osher Ad, which is a very popular discount supermarket and of course a variety of food places. 

There seems to be a large public toilet set-up on each floor near the elevators. Look up for the icon to guide you. Sorry no photo.  I was there early evening, and everything was clean and in order. The toilet has a sensor flush which is good; the less you have to touch the better. As you can see there's a bag in the small "garbage" and a full roll of toilet paper. I've never found it smelly, as if forgotten to be cleaned. There are also the electric sensor hand-dryers.

And as you can see, there are lots of sinks and mirrors. Maybe they should add more soap dispensers, but otherwise no complaints. As you can see, it's also very roomy. This is the main floor near the large food court.

It's nice to be able to write something nice. Use in good health!