Kunafa

The Kunafa is a Middle Eastern dessert that is made using spun pastry and cheese topped off with a fragrant sugar syrup. It is quite possibly one of the most famous desserts from the Middle East along the with Baklava. It is very sweet, a little dense and extremely delicous. I think it is best shared due to its heaviness. I always described it as the Arab Warm Cheesecake. Many Arab countries claim it, but it is most commonly known to be from Nablus, Palestine. There are many additions one can add e.g. ice cream or clotted cream and there are many variations to the traditional type e.g. in a pitta sandwich as they do in Lebanon.

The best Kunafa in London

There’s one place really that you have to try it at. Antepliler have established themselves well on the street with a main restaurant, a doner place, a baklava place and this one here: a place that does kunafa only. It is the perfect post meal sit down dessert spot. The seating is very authentic (almost on the floor) and you can watch them make the kunafa too. The menu is simple: straight up kunafa, kunafa with cream or kunafa with ice cream. This right here is for those that want an authentic experience. It is super popular and you will always find the place full (don’t worry though, you can sit in their doner place next door and order the same kunafa too). I prefer the Palestinian kunafa, but this Turkish variant here at Antepliler is truly brilliant. It seriously reminded me of why kunafa is such an elite dessert. Recently, I have been preferring other desserts like the milk cake for example and I had totally forgot how good this dessert was. This version here truly reminded me. I have now come to the conclusion that you should not get your kunafa from a general sweet shop or a bakery, but you should get it from a kunafa specific spot or at least one that cooks the kunafa fresh. You really can taste the difference.