This establishment has temporarily closed and will reopen in a new location soon.

The humble bagel may well be the most compelling evidence of some sort of worldwide Jewish conspiracy – in the few hundred years since its invention in the 17th century, the bagel has ascended from the kitchens of Poland's shtetls to the streets of cities from New York to Tokyo, universally recognized and enjoyed. It is something of a mystery, then, why European Jews, who managed to make New York and Montreal slaves to the bagel, have not done the same with the Jewish state.

Perhaps it was the early Zionists' suppression of Eastern European identity, perhaps it was the influx of Middle Eastern and Asian Jews, but whatever the reason, Israel is no bagel mecca.

Coffee Time Bagels off Jerusalem's Zion Square tries gamely enough to bring the bagel home to the Holy Land, with baskets full of freshly baked bagels with toppings both a 17th century Pole (poppy seed) and a 21st century Israeli (za'atar) could enjoy.

Coffee Time also offers coffee, of course, and a wide selection of shmears and fillings for its bagels.