Knafeh
Photo: elif ayse · CC BY 2.0

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.

1 editor pick for Knafeh in Tel Aviv, ranked by editorial score. All Tel Aviv signature dishes · Knafeh across every city.

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Abulafia ★ 4.4

$Middle EasternLev Hair

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.

OrderKnafeh, 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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