But just a moment ago you watched Ruthie Brodeau and Haim Cohen cry over the state of the restaurant industry in Israel, but you will not see a trace of it in the new season of "MKR Winning Kitchen"

Hello and welcome to our restaurant. Do you have a fever? Coughing? Want to sit in a smoking area? Come and fill out a health statement first, and our waiter with sanitized menus will come to you and recommend our specials for this evening. By the way, if you want another recommendation, then here: If you happen to have a dream of opening your own restaurant, you should reset it because in the current period it sounds like a crazy idea.

• Listen to our F and DeCast on "Winning Kitchen MKR"

But the corona will not stop humans from dreaming and trying to fulfill. And if not a restaurant, then at least there will be a reality show about restaurants. The idea behind the "MKR winning kitchen" format is to allow people to compete for the dream. They come to the program in pairs and are tested for their ability to pick up a restaurant hospitality experience; From the name to the menu, and of course cooking multiple dishes in limited time with guests gathering around one table.

Five pairs were featured last night (in the first), in the season-opening episode that is going to take over the Keshet broadcast schedule, and everyone has a shared dream. "I want to fulfill a dream, to open a restaurant," clarified Martin, who came to compete with her daughter, while Adiel with the opposite hat, who grew up in Lod, announced that she wanted "my own kitchen with club music and atmosphere. A club with food."

Those who try to direct them, judge them and critics are the two talents of the channel, Haim Cohen and Ruthi Brodo. You've probably come across some interview with one of them in recent months. They have given so many, and have always left a grim feeling about the continued existence of the restaurant market in Israel. No matter what crisis was at hand - social payments to waiters, excessive fees for delivery apps or forced closures due to the Corona epidemic, the restaurant is a dying market - that's their constant message and other successful chefs in the field.

But suddenly, when Cohen and Brody sit down at prime time, they already sound and act differently. The "winning kitchen" is actually romanticizing the restaurant industry; Humbling the tremendous difficulties in the field, highlighting the self-satisfaction of feeding others and inflating the ego of the brewers. Everything is pink, everything is kitschy, everything romantic and the biggest drama is a desert spirit that almost ruined the Thai chicken dish in the premiere episode.

In the "MKR" fantasy, there are no providers to chase after payments, no surprise visits by the Ministry of Health or inspectors who collapse because of the lack of masks; No loans from the banks or execution, no angry customer posts on Facebook or wars on a kosher certificate. So despite the name of the program, and despite the innocent fantasy of a small restaurant where you can open your heart and soul to feed people, you can't really win the "winning kitchen."

• Esther and Jonathan from MKR: "They want all our winnings"

Take, for example, the winning couple of the previous season, Jonathan and Esther Mir, who somehow managed to overcome the difficulties and opened a kosher restaurant in Safed. The rare hummus he made there, Haim Cohen will never forget. Hardly a dream held them for a year, but reality triumphed over them and last month they closed the pots, put out the fire on the plancha and went in search of a new dream for themselves.

"MKR Winning Kitchen," Rainbow 12, 9:15 p.m.