HaMis'ada HaGdola

המסעדה הגדולה

HaMis'ada HaGdola was an Israeli sitcom, produced by the Arabic department of Channel 1, running between 1985–1988, every Shabbat evening. The series had great success both in Israel and in neighbouring countries like Cyprus, Turkey and in the Arab World. During its original run, it was considered the most popular Israeli TV show, both in Israel and the Arab World. Yosef Barel, who was the manager of the Arabic department of the IBA formulated the idea of the show. The first twelve episodes were directed by the producer/screenwriter Eli Sagi, along with director Avi Amber. After these two retired from the production of the show, the rest of the episodes were directed by Antoine Salah and Victor Kahmar. The sitcom-series depicted events in a Middle Eastern restaurant in Jerusalem, owned by an Arab-Israeli restaurateur named Abu-Rahmi, and his wife Umm Rahmi, and employing a funny chef - Hakim, a charming and charismatic waiter - Abdu, a tongueless waiter named Ma'aruf, and a cross-eyed dustman called Artin.