the one that makes it
amba
a tangy, funky mango pickle-sauce brought to israel by iraqi jews — sour, a little sulphurous, completely addictive.
the story
where it comes from
sabich started as an iraqi-jewish shabbat breakfast — fried aubergine, hard-boiled egg, salad — and became one of tel aviv's defining street foods, stuffed into pita.
the thing that makes it sing is amba: a fermented green-mango sauce that tastes like nothing else, sharp and savoury against the soft egg and silky aubergine.
the 97 / 3
what we changed
the original leans on hard-boiled egg. we keep the egg and the amba but use raw-mango amba — a wink at indian aam ka achar, closer to home.
97% familiar · 3% you've never had
lil nuggets
things to say at dinner
'sabich' likely comes from 'sabah' — Arabic for morning — because it began as a breakfast.
amba probably travelled from India's mango pickle traditions to Iraq and then to Israel — a chutney's long migration.
the classic sabich is a full plate folded into bread: aubergine, egg, salad, tahini and amba, all at once.
make it at home
a home version
2 pockets · 25 min
ingredients
- ·1 aubergine, sliced
- ·2 eggs, soft-boiled
- ·amba (or thin mango pickle loosened with water)
- ·tahini + lemon
- ·chopped salad (tomato, cucumber, parsley)
- ·warm pita
method
- 1salt the aubergine, then fry or air-fry until deeply soft and golden.
- 2soft-boil the eggs; make a sharp chopped salad.
- 3smear tahini in the pita, layer aubergine, egg and salad.
- 4finish with a generous drizzle of amba.
the secret we keep
let the aubergine get almost too soft — creamy, not spongy — and don't be shy with the amba. under-sauced sabich is a sad sabich.
what's in it
every dish is veg · swap paneer for chicken, same price · air-fried falafel on request
allergens
our kitchen isn't allergen-free — tell us what you can't have and we'll tell you exactly what's in it.
pairs well: an iced tea to keep it light.
the numbers
20g
protein
~450
kcal
- ·contains egg
- ·air-fry on request
- ·house-made bread
numbers approximate · base-dependent
why it's good
the sleeper hit — soft, tangy, savoury, unlike anything else on the menu.
amba is the flavour you'll be trying to describe to friends later.
have it your way, or ours.