Cream team

A new dessert parlour brings to Mumbai the authentic tastes and textures of kunafa — a popular Middle Eastern cream and cheese-filled baked delicacy

Slowly emerging from the shadows created by its more popular neighbouring cuisines such as Greek and Mediterranean is Middle Eastern fare. The desserts,  especially, have been inching along Mumbai’s ever-evolving culinary scene, one baklava at a time. Speaking of baklava, we recently stumbled upon a new interloper that is ready to topple over the filo pastry-based baklava with its fine kataifi pastry strands. Enter the kunafa. Known multifariously as knafeh, kunafe and konafa, with variants found across Greece, Turkey and the Balkans, this sweet is a calorific one.

The special rotary kunafa burners

Made with semolina-based kataifi pastry that is soaked in an orange blossom-sugar syrup, the kunafa is usually layered with the traditional kaymak clotted cream or a white-brine Palestinian cheese called Nabulsi. Once baked atop a special rotary kunafa stove, the round and sometimes square pastry is then topped with nuts fried in ghee.

At the newly launched Kunafa World — the first Mumbai outpost of the popular Bengaluru chain — that’s housed in a tiny takeaway-cum-three-table dine-in spot along a small lane off the bustling Linking Road in Bandra, the traditional kunafa gets a modern makeover. Here one finds toppings like the de rigueur Nutella and its newest competitor — Lotus Biscoff. We cannot resist this gooey, slightly cinnamon-y flavoured spread and ask that the first kunafa we try be topped with it.

Classic Lotus Biscoff kunafa

While at first, the slightly confused counter staff tells us that this won’t be possible as they’ve run out of it, the manager quickly manages to locate a jar of the spread. Our classic Lotus Biscoff kunafa (Rs 420) is worth the wait. We can even see it being prepared in front of us over the rotary burners behind the counter. Oozing thick, unctuous cream that’s not too sweet, the crisp kataifi pastry shines through and scores for both its taste and texture.

The crunchy cheese kunafa we order next (Rs 230/420 for S/L size) has a totally different texture and taste profile from the classic one. Baked in an oven, this one is supposed to be eaten within minutes of being taken out, we’re informed. This suggestion works well as we tuck into the molten Nabulsi cheese-filled pastry that’s enhanced with a drizzle of the saffron-sugar syrup served alongside it. Craving for strong Turkish coffee or even a glass of water after all that sugar, we’re left high and dry. No drinks are served here, we’re told.

Crunchy cheese kunafa

We’re disappointed once again when we’re told that we cannot taste the unique looking cone kunafas (four/eight pieces for Rs 290/520) that are filled with Nutella and dusted with powdered pistachios. This, despite us having anonymously called up the outlet earlier in the day to make sure they were open and that all the items on the concise menu were available to order. We get our Nutella fill from one of our four mini kunafa (four/eight for R385/690) that’s once again generously filled with cream with lashings of the choco-hazelnut spread. A plain cream one, a caramel one and one topped with fried cashew nuts complete the quartet that we pack up to take back home. They not only travel well, but also taste fresh hours later when warmed up in the microwave for a minute and drenched in a shower of syrupy goodness.

At: Kunafa World, shop 3, Simple Apartments, 16th road, Bandra West
Time: 12.30 pm to 10 pm
Call: 7304605186

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