Shredded pastry dough baked golden over a layer of soft cheese, drenched in sugar syrup and finished with crushed pistachio, the Nablus-style dessert now baked fresh in Tel Aviv's Arab bakeries too.
Where to eat it: 4 restaurants across 2 cities.
Accounts trace knafeh to Fatimid Egypt or the Umayyad court in Damascus, where legend says it was invented to satisfy caliphs during Ramadan, and a 13th-century Damascus market inspector already monitored its quality that month. Historian Mary Isin notes the cheese-filled version does not appear in records before the 19th century; an 1885 Beirut cookbook gives four recipes. The Palestinian city of Nablus became linked with knafeh filled with firm white Nabulsi cheese from at least 1923, remaining the dish's defining style. Abulafia's Allenby Street branch bakes its own tray of knafeh around the clock alongside sambousak and bourekas at the Jaffa bakery's round-the-clock counter.
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Common allergens: Dairy, Gluten, Tree nuts
Tip from the editors. Pour cold syrup onto hot pastry, never the reverse; hot syrup on hot pastry turns the kataifi soggy instead of crisp.
Al Safadi Restaurant grills Lebanese mezze and steaks a short walk from DIFC in Dubai, open from 09:30 for breakfast through to a late dinner at 00:30.
OrderMixed grill platter with hummus and a plate of warm knafeh to close.
TipBreakfast runs from 09:30 and uses the same grill list as dinner.
Aroos Damascus plates Syrian kebbeh, grills and manakish on Al Jaziera Street in Deira, serving all day and late into the evening, inside or on the patio.
OrderMixed grill platter with kebbeh, shish tawook and a bowl of fattoush to share.
TipService runs from breakfast until well past midnight, and the patio tables are the pick once evenings cool.
Karam Beirut bakes manoushe and rolls shawarma on the lower ground floor of The Dubai Mall, a Lebanese street food counter dressed for Downtown Dubai.
OrderZaatar manoushe with a side of shawarma and a glass of jallab.
TipThe branch sits on the lower ground floor, entered from the Fashion Avenue car park, P1 and P2.
Abulafia's Allenby Street branch in Tel Aviv bakes the Jaffa bakery's knafeh, sambousak and bourekas around the clock, every single day of the week.
TryKnafeh, sambousak and bourekas
TipSambousak with different fillings, knafeh and malawach all come off the same trays, so point at whatever is freshest.
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