Sweets in the Old City

Kashash Sweets

Address: Old City Market

Opening Hours: Sunday-Saturday 8:30am-7pm

Phone: +972-4-99149839

photo by: Lyn Levy

The most famous sweets shop in the Old City. As you enter, dozens of trays with different kinds of baklavas are spread out in front of you, including the hot chocolate baklava. The shop also has excellent hot knafeh and a large selection of eastern sweets like the cheese and almonds Burma and Awama balls soaked in rosewater.

Abd el Hadi Sweets

Photo: Guy Gamzo

Address: Salah-a-Din Street

Opening Hours: Sunday-Saturday 8:30am-11pm

Phone: +972-4-9913883

Photo: Guy Gamzo

One of four shops (Akko, Haifa, Nazareth and Arad) that is adjacent to Abu Suhail Hummus. The family’s father opened the shop, 60 years ago. Right when you enter you see shelves stacked full of different kinds of baklava, colorful cookies decorated with pistachio, date filled maamoul cookies and hot desserts soaked in honey or rosewater and decorated with nuts. And of course, fresh authentic knafeh with goat cheese.

Hassan Taha’s Sweets Stand

Address: Old City Market, Ha-Shuk ha-Amami St.

Opening Hours: Sunday-Friday 8:00am-4pm

Hassan Taha’s Sweets Stand is the hot spot for anyone who loves authentic Arab sweets. It has EVERYTHING – special cookies, snacks and pastries soaked with rosewater and sugar syrup that emit a special nostalgic aroma.

Wide trays feature organized Turkish Delight sweets, wrapped in powdered sugar, seasame and nut sweets, pistachio and coconut sweets and cookies as well as tasty nut snacks dipped in sugar.

Excellent fresh Halva is another reason to pay the stand a visit. All the sweets are made by the mother of the family, Um Jumaa, and are sold by weight.

Nazareth Sweets

Address: 21 Salah-a-Din St.

Opening Hours: Sunday-Saturday 9am-11pm

Phone: +972-4-9919285

This sweets and desserts shop was opened 30 years ago by the Kilani family, who learned the secrets of dough, sugar and nuts in Nazareth. Everything on sale is baked and made on-site – a wide selection of baklavas, kadaif noodles (or hairs in Hebrew) and various types of knafeh decorated with green pistachio. To balance the flavors, bitter coffee is sold with the sweets.

Bashtawei Sweets

Address: Old City Market, Ha-Shuk ha-Amami St.

Opening Hours: Monday-Saturday 7:00am-6pm

Phone: +972-52-7078782

Izo the owner, started making the family’s famous sweets as early as 1962. The shop opened 14 years ago in the center of Ha-Shuk ha-Amami street and it offers semolina cookies and cakes, traditional Muslim honey-dipped cookies, cookies with dry fruit, pistachios, almonds and nuts, covered in sugar water and a shining glaze.

Recently, Izo’s wife started making individual hot and fresh knafeh, another great treat.

Taher-Abu Al Kaher Sweets

Address: Old City Market, Ha-Shuk ha-Amami St.

Opening Hours: Sunday-Saturday 8am-5pm

Phone: +972-50-3069521

The shop’s stands feature large trays of dried fruit, cashews, sesame, nuts, peanuts, pistachios and others that were dipped in honey and dried. The shop’s flagship product is Nigella seed cookies, borderlinking black in color.

The stands also present nuts covered in a golden sugary layer, traditional Turkish Delight in different colors (and pink) sprinkled with white powdered sugar. And let’s not forget the hand-made maamoul cookies and fresh blocks of Halva sitting next to them, including Halva with sesame, pistachios and coconut flakes.