Fried aubergine, a hard-boiled egg, hummus, Israeli salad and amba mango pickle stuffed together into a pita, the Iraqi Jewish Shabbat breakfast turned into Tel Aviv's favourite lunch sandwich.
Where to eat it: 2 restaurants across 1 city.
Sabich Tzvi Halabi, an Iraqi Jewish immigrant born in Baghdad in 1938, opened a kiosk on Uziel Street in Ramat Gan in 1961 with his wife Rina. Bus drivers on line 63 asked for something more filling, so Halabi folded his family's Iraqi Jewish Shabbat breakfast, fried aubergine and egg, into a single pita. Customers began asking to be served sabich, and the name stuck to the sandwich itself. New stands spread across Israel in the early 1990s, and Ramat Gan named the original junction Sabich Square in 2020. Tel Aviv's own stands, Sabich Tchernichovsky and Sabich Frishman among them, layer the aubergine, egg, hummus, salad and amba to the same formula.
Common allergens: Eggs, Sesame, Gluten
Tip from the editors. Salt the aubergine first and pat it dry; skip that step and the slices soak up too much oil and turn soggy.
Sabich Tchernichovsky on Allenby Street in Tel Aviv fills pita with fried aubergine, boiled egg, tahini and amba, and shuts for Shabbat on Friday afternoon.
TrySabich: fried eggplant, egg and tahini in pita
TipPick your toppings at the counter, from tahini and amba to spicy sauce and chopped salad; the pita comes generously filled.
Sabich Frishman on Frishman Street in Tel Aviv stuffs pita with fried eggplant, egg, tahini and mango amba, eaten on bar stools at long communal tables.
TrySabich: fried eggplant, egg and tahini in pita
TipThe mango amba is the point; ask for extra if the counter is light-handed with it that day.
More cities are in research. Want sabich covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.
