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GOURMET TRAVELLER 23

When unprecedented demand for their
knafeh overwhelmed the family business,
two brothers decided to take the show on
the road, and life took a sweet turn.

WHOYou’ll hear them before you see
them: brothers Ameer and Joey El-Issa
bake (and dance) to a booming playlist
of Middle Eastern beats, the blast radius
emanating from a shipping container
turned pop-up bakery, the mobile home
for their Knafeh: Jerusalem Street Food
business. The signature pastry that has
powered Knafeh since its 2014 start in
Sydney still holds its own against the noise.

WHYWhen the pair’s mother, Nabila,
debuted a “lighter, creamier version” of
the knafeh at their family business,
Shisha Bar & Grill, in Sydney’s Croydon
Park, it was a runaway hit with customers

• so much so that it nearly crippled the
  restaurant. So Ameer, a former architect,

drew on his creative expertise to turn a

shipping container into the Knafeh food

truck to better handle demand.

WHATAmeer likens knafeh to crème

brûlée. The family version is made with

a mix of sweet cheese and semolina and

cooked twice for an oozy, cheesy centre

and a brûlée-like finish on top. It’s finished

with pistachio nuts and sugar syrup.

WHEREKnafeh’s mobile status means

it turns up everywhere – from suburban

parks to old biscuit factories. The

original pop-up has led to appearances

in Melbourne and New York and the

pastry will make occasional cameos at

The Mechanic & Sons, the family’s

newest eatery and a tribute to Ameer’s

father, who was a mechanic for Dale Ford

in Chullora. The first location opened

last month in Penrith, in Sydney’s west.

knafeh.com.au

Knafeh

Pastry as performance. Plus some serious beards.

THE PRODUCERS

Knafeh’s

knafeh.

In a hurry in Dubai? Emirates passengers can, for a fee, use a new “home check-in”

service to check luggage and pick up boarding passes at any location in the city.

And for new arrivals, the airline offers a service that retrieves and clears luggage

at customs, and delivers gear anywhere in Dubai.emirates.com/au

Guy Grossi (Grossi

Florentino) has aRoman

Holidaymoment with

his menu for Gourmet

Institute’s Melbourne

event on 11 July. Expect

braised oxtail with cime

di rapa and toasted

wheat tonnarelli with

pig’s cheek and pecorino.

harveynorman.com.au/

gourmet-institute

“I never expectedDark Emuto become a

dance,itwasarealsurprise,”saysBruce

Pascoe. His award-winning book,

which rejects the notion that Indigenous

Australians were hunter-gatherers, and

argues that they were instead practising

sophisticated agriculture, has been

transformed by Bangarra Dance Theatre

into a new work. Do you like your dance

withasideofdinner?Theshowwillbe

matched with a special menu at

Bennelong during the Sydney Opera

House season (14 June to 14 July), before

it tours Canberra, Perth, Brisbane and

Melbourne.bangarra.com.au