AS Haya Ronen prepared to open her family¡¯s Mediterranean restaurant last year, some things fell neatly into place: a small storefront in Gubei, fresh pita bread from her husband¡¯s nearby bakery, recipes from her native Israel and her own lifelong love of cooking.

There was, however, something missing. ¡°I learned you cannot find tahini here,?recalled Ronen, referring to the savoury paste, made from ground sesame seeds, that is a Middle Eastern staple. ¡°I said: ¡®I must make it myself because I cannot make hummus without tahini, and I can¡¯t import it.?So every night when I came home, I tried. And after one month, I finally came to the right tahini.?

Ronen keeps her improvised method, which involves the laborious process of separating the tiny seeds from their outer sheaths before grinding them, as closely guarded as a State secret. But the episode shows the no-nonsense sensibility, determination and passion that have turned the Mediterranean Sandwich Bar into a success and Ronen, 50, into a de facto mother figure for Shanghai¡¯s small but growing Israeli community.

¡°Haya and (her husband) Shaike are like my adopted parents in Shanghai,?said Dvir Bar-Gal, 39, a photojournalist who has lived here for three and a half years. He is part of a growing group of Israelis who count themselves regulars at weekly Friday night meals prepared by Ronen at her Gubei apartment. The informal gatherings to commemorate Shabbat (the Jewish Sabbath) are less religious than social, with family, friends, and friends of friends speaking mainly in Hebrew while feasting on Ronen¡¯s creations.

¡°It gives us a sense of family when our own families are far away, and of community,?said Bar-Gal. ¡°And, of course, amazing food.?

Family trade

Ronen has no formal training in the kitchen, but has been whipping up delicious dishes since she married Shaike Ronen 30 years ago. They met while she was performing her compulsory service in the Israeli army and living in a small village near Netanya in Israel¡¯s centre; Shaike owned a diamond-cutting factory in a nearby village. One day he brought a worker from his factory to Ronen¡¯s village and spotted Haya, then 20, hitchhiking (¡°I didn¡¯t have a car, and I didn¡¯t want to spend money. It was safe back then,?she explained with a laugh). He gave her a lift, and the rest is history.

Shaike Ronen had become a diamond merchant at the urging of his father, a baker, who saw a more profitable future for his son in gems. Shaike¡¯s successful business often brought him to China and, about a decade ago, it was here that he decided to return to his family¡¯s baking origins. Soon followed his family: Haya, sons Tzachi, 28, and Amnon, 24, and their daughter, 21-year-old Hadar (who returned to Israel for her army service a few years ago).

One failed attempt at a bakery about eight years ago taught the couple some lessons about marketing and production. Their current bakery, about a 10-minute drive from the sandwich bar Haya manages, now turns out about 2,000 pitas a day, plus smaller numbers of bagels and sweets, like chocolate rugelach and baklava.

Tzachi, who lives in Shanghai, went into the diamond business, but Amnon works with his father, helping market Mediterranean¡¯s products. He¡¯s taken the job seriously; most of the large chains favoured by expats ?City Supermarket, Pines, Metro, Lotus ?carry the bakery¡¯s pitas, which are also used in the kitchens of some of the city¡¯s most popular Western restaurants.

Friday gatherings

Amnon even hawks Mediterranean¡¯s products in person every Friday at an upscale expat development in Pudong. ¡°They asked him to come,?said Haya, with more than a hint of pride. ¡°We sell kilos of hummus and bags of pita bread there every week.?

At the small restaurant, with only seven tables and walls bathed in bright colours, Haya does much of the cooking (though she often shares Chinese lunches prepared by her local ?but bilingual ?staff). She is nonchalant about her move from full-time housewife to restaurateur when Mediterranean opened last April. ¡°After three years in Shanghai, I was really bored doing nothing,?she recalled. ¡°I¡¯d had enough shopping.?

Far from boredom, in recent years the family has barely had time to squeeze in its favourite pastimes: eating out and travelling.

She does, however, always make time for the Friday night meals at which she feeds at least a dozen compatriots, including some with small children.

¡°Since I¡¯ve come here, every Friday is the same. I like it; it¡¯s a break in the week,?she said. Her themed menus, which have included pizza, barbecue and Thai food, is always changing. ¡°It depends what I decide to do,?she explained in typical blunt fashion.

On the occasional Friday, the table overflows with the same traditional food she serves up at Mediterranean: hummus (chickpea spread), baba ghanoush (eggplant spread), green salad, olives, simple grilled meats and, of course, pita.

¡°A lot of young people don¡¯t have a place to go,?she said. ¡°It¡¯s really for the children; they¡¯re far from home, so it¡¯s a reminder for them that we are Jewish.?

For that, Haya and Shaike Ronen provide an invaluable service. ¡°At one point after coming here I found one of the things I strongly miss from my country was its flavours,?said Bar-Gal. ¡°Having the pita bread and the other foods gives me a sense of home here.?

Not surprising, said Israeli Deputy Consul Eliav Benjamin. ¡°Israeli communities around the world like to stick together, in a way. They like to make friends in new places, but feel very comfortable with their own people,?said Benjamin, who has eaten at Mediterranean and heard about Ronen¡¯s Friday gatherings. ¡°Especially in Israel, food is a big part of the culture and tradition.?

¡®Jerusalem mix?

Shanghai is home to about 200 Israelis, according to the Israeli Consulate. That¡¯s a population explosion from a decade ago, when there were two; two years ago, the figure was about 70. Haya can attest to the growth from her own experience. New arrivals regularly pop into the out-of-the-way shop for falafel (spiced chickpea patties), hummus and conversation.

¡°Just yesterday I met a student from Israel,?she said, sipping a latte during a lull in the Hongbaoshi Lu shop. ¡°He told me he¡¯s filled up on Chinese food and needs a little break.?

But she hopes to appeal to more than just transplanted Israelis and New Yorkers in search of a fresh bagel with lox and cream cheese.

¡°It will take a while, but the day will come,?she said, adding that local customers tend to favour her ¡°Jerusalem mix?pita sandwiches, with chicken parts and special spices. ¡°We have to be patient.?

Patience is one ingredient the couple seem to have in abundance.

¡°It is like a dream,?said Shaike. ¡°To do this bakery, to bring the pita to China and be the first one.?They like to say they have a modest ?but still formidable ?goal: to hook just 5 or 10 per cent of Shanghai¡¯s Chinese population on the pita¡¯s doughy goodness. ¡°That¡¯s still more than a million pitas a day,?Shaike marvelled.

A first order of business is to find a more central location when their lease expires next year. Ronen knows the Hongbaoshi Lu venue is by no means conducive to attracting the curious or generating regular lunchtime crowds. As she sees it, there¡¯s only one upside: ¡°All my clients when they come, they are coming specially for us.?

In walked proof in the form of US native Noah Flesher, a 32-year-old teacher at an international school.

¡°If you¡¯re here, it¡¯s because you wanted to come here. You don¡¯t stumble upon it,?he said, sitting down to a bowl of broccoli soup and platter of cold salads.

¡°I¡¯ve had other hummus in town, and it doesn¡¯t compare,?he said in a testament to the success of Ronen¡¯s kitchen experiment. But of all her fans, top raves come from her partner in business and life.

¡°She gives warm feelings to the clients. She likes to help people and give good advice,¡¯¡¯ said her husband.

And Ronen¡¯s cooking?

¡°If I didn¡¯t know she cooks good, I wouldn¡¯t have taken her to marry me,?joked Shaike, adding that his favourite is her chocolate cake (sadly, not for sale at Mediterranean). ¡°I think she is the best in the world.?