Verified in Tel Aviv.
Knafeh is a signature dish of Israel; we have verified places to eat it in Tel Aviv. Start with where to eat Knafeh in Tel Aviv.
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.
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.
Where to eat in Tel Aviv:
Where to eat Knafeh in Tel Aviv: the editor picks
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