Kunafa

Critic´s Review

• Food: 4 / 5
• Service: 3 / 5
• Decor: 3.5 / 5

-By Marryam H Reshii

An Arabic mithai shop in the heart of our city

Whether you want to gift your corporate clients or sip a cup of Turkish coffee and nibble a sweet pastry redolent with honey and pistachios, Kunafa is the place to go.

Atmospherics: Mehar Chand Market has a few gems, chief of which is Kunafa, a joint venture between Arab and Indian partners. It's a store with several features that take you right into the Middle East: if you've been to Dubai or Istanbul, you'll recognize it right away. There are dozens of types of dates, kunafa, baklava and other pastries all of which come from the Arab world, but more specifically from Jordan and Palestine. The skeleton staff at the outlet (there's a nearby factory where the sweets are made, manned naturally by Arabs) prepares tea and coffee in the Arabic style for visitors, while, true to the norms of Arabic hospitality, someone or the other will hand round a dish of baklava for you to sample. At no charge whatever!

Table Talk: Think of Kunafa as a mithai shop and you've got the idea. You can go there for a coffee or tea and a nibble or to place your order for wedding announcements, corporate gifting etc. Or to buy sweets for yourself. Kunafa (Rs 1500 per kg) is the name of a preparation that has vermicelli on the exterior and a mix of cream, cheese, rosewater and whole pistachios in a morsel of varying tastes, levels of sweetness and texture. It is the kernel of the Arabic tradition of confectionery: semolina and/or wheat flour combined with cheese, a sweetening agent like sugar syrup or honey and nuts in various combinations, permutations and cuts. Besides kunafa and baklava (Rs 950-5000 a kg) - tiny morsels of flaky pastry enclosing a mixture of chopped nuts - there is also ghraiba (Rs 450 for 350 grams): an Arabic nankhatai, mammoul that resembles biscotti and basboussa which can be compared to a cake liberally soaked in honey and topped with nuts.

Plus and minus: Kunafa is one of the best new entries into the city in the past few years, so I hope they keep up their extraordinarily high standards. The investment and sheer passion that has gone into the venture means that prices cannot be low, but it is value for money no doubt.