Kunafa Reinvented: From Cheesecake to Croissants
Crisp shredded-pastry strands built for syrup and cheese now turn up in chocolate bars, buns, cakes and croissants. The reason has less to do with fashion than with texture.
Kunafa was never a delicate dessert. At its centre is kadayif, a spun dough of fine strands that is fried or baked until it turns crisp, then layered with cheese or cream and soaked in a scented sugar syrup. What the last two years have shown is that the strands are the portable part. Strip away the cheese and the syrup, and what is left is a crunch that suits almost any soft filling.
A texture with a long pedigree
The dessert is known across Egypt and the Levant, often for holidays and Ramadan. The usual filling is a soft, sweet cheese such as Nabulsi, though nuts and qishta cream are common, and the pastry is cooked in butter, ghee or oil before a syrup flavoured with rose or orange blossom water goes on and crushed pistachios on top. Regional versions differ in the dough, from rough, noodle-like threads to a fine semolina base, and in the cheese. Wikipedia’s survey notes that cheese-filled kunafa appears in historical records only from the 19th century, though nut versions are older. The pastry has been adapted for a long time.
The bar that changed the category
The modern wave began with chocolate. FIX Dessert Chocolatier, founded by Sarah Hamouda in 2021, launched a bar called Can’t Get Knafeh Of It, filled with pistachio cream, tahini and toasted kataifi, the shredded pastry. Khaleej Times traced its spread to a December 2023 TikTok video that passed 65 million views, and noted that the bars sold through Deliveroo and sold out fast. Other flavours followed, including Lotus Biscoff and karak tea.
Imitators did the rest. When Mars Gulf launched a Galaxy Pistachio Kunafa in May 2025, produced in the UAE with Notions Group and sold in the UAE and Qatar, it said more than 40 brands had entered the kunafa chocolate segment since the start of that year, and that the flavour had driven 45 per cent of the category’s growth over three months.
The formats multiply
Once the filling worked in chocolate, pastry chefs tried it elsewhere. FACT Magazines found a bun filled with hot kunafa, the Bunafa, at Klava on Al Wasl. Harper’s Bazaar Arabia listed a limited-edition pistachio kunafa cake at Caia. A chef at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Dubai Waterfront, singled out a kunafah cheesecake in a 2024 round-up of regional cheesecake trends, presenting it as a local touch on a global dessert. In August, Gulf News described a UAE kunafa specialist whose menu spans the Arab world’s regional styles and also offers modern fillings such as Nutella and Lotus.
The most recent step is the croissant. In May, Britannia in India launched the Britannia Treat Dubai Kunafa Croissant, a pistachio-crème-filled croissant pitched at younger consumers through grocery and quick-commerce channels. Milling & Feed Middle East & Africa called it the first mass-market attempt to bring the viral Dubai pistachio-and-pastry pairing to a packaged, single-serve product. The idea has travelled from a Dubai delivery app to Indian supermarket shelves in under three years.
Why strands travel so well
There are three practical reasons, and they are our reading of the evidence rather than a chef’s statement. First, fine strands, baked or fried, make a brittle lattice, which gives creamy fillings the contrast they lack. A cheesecake, a pistachio paste or a soft croissant all gain from a crunch. Second, the pastry’s neutral, buttery flavour defers to pistachio, cheese or chocolate. Third, it keeps its shape: it can be sprinkled, layered, wrapped or used as a crust.
The weakness is moisture. A kataifi supplier’s guide names sogginess as one of the biggest frustrations for people recreating Dubai chocolate at home, and says roasted kataifi holds its crunch longer once assembled, which is why professional kitchens often combine it with fillings shortly before serving. That is a supplier’s view, but it explains why the strands work best in formats with little water: bars, crusts, toppings.
What stays and what goes
Traditional kunafa has not been displaced. Gulf News’s August guide still leads with a specialist offering classic Egyptian and Palestinian versions, including the rough-strand Nabulsieh khishna. The pastry’s reinvention builds on that base. The same crunch-and-cream formula that made kunafa popular for centuries is now being sold in a bar, a bun and a croissant. For how the bar itself became a category, see our Dubai chocolate report; for another sweet-with-a-twist trend, read our swicy feature.
Sources & fact-check9
- KunafaWikipedia, 2026
- Found only in UAE, this viral pistachio kunafa chocolate is the talk of the townKhaleej Times, 9 July 2024
- Dubai chocolate: Global brand Mars enters red-hot kunafa market through GalaxyGulf News, 27 May 2025
- The UAE’s viral food trends, from Dubai chocolate to flat croissantsFACT Magazines, 21 July 2025
- Celebrating National Cheesecake Day with chefs from the Arab worldHospitality News Middle East, 30 July 2024
- The 7 foodie trends you can only try in DubaiHarper’s Bazaar Arabia, 27 November 2025
- Britannia Treat Croissant launches Dubai Kunafa Croissant with Pista crème twistMilling & Feed Middle East & Africa, 29 May 2026
- 12 best kunafa spots in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah as summer holidays wind downGulf News, 4 August 2026
- What is kataifi? The crispy pastry behind Dubai chocolate and kunafaSweetifi (kataifi supplier), 8 May 2026
Every name, number and date in this story was checked against the sources above before publication. Spotted something wrong? Tell us — we correct errors openly. See our editorial standards.
