Knafeh Nabulseyeh in Coburg sells wraps, cheesy sweets and falafel

July 1, 2025
1:48 pm

I’m a sucker for shawarma, and Knafeh Nabulseyeh’s perfectly proportioned wrap is my latest obsession.

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Middle Eastern$

There are moments in a life of eating that cut through the daily experience of pleasure or dissatisfaction and make such an impact you never stop looking to recreate that edible magic. Sometimes it happens in a fancy restaurant or during a moment of cultural immersion, but sometimes – oftentimes – it’s a far more quotidian experience, one that you never expected to be anything more than lunch.

One such moment happened when I was 19 and living in San Francisco. I decided one day to forgo my steady diet of burritos and instead try a shawarma that smelled good from the street. I don’t remember anything about the purveyor other than it was near a movie theatre and there was a short line out front to order. But the food they made gave me the ultimate shawarma high, one I have been chasing for decades since.

I’ve had good, even great, shawarma over the years. But, until recently, I’ve not experienced the particular perfection I found that day.

Knafeh Nabulseyeh has been around for 10 years, first in Hughesdale and now in Coburg, selling excellent Palestinian sweets. Last year, owner Mousa Khayat was thinking about how to maximise the space in the shop and decided to expand his offering by opening a window from the back of the property, which faced a large public parking lot, and selling falafel and shawarma from that window.

I’m now duty-bound to go to Coburg for this shawarma multiple times a month.

I saw something about the shawarma on social media and got that tingling feeling that it was something I must investigate, but by the time I made it up to Coburg, the hot food operation had been shut down by council. Khayat promised me the hot food would be back, and as of recently, he made good on that vow.

The window facing the parking lot is no more, but you can order falafel and shawarma from the counter in the sweets shop now. In terms of process and expediency, it’s still a work in progress – this is a business that has been focused on selling prebaked goods, and the transition to cooked-to-order dishes has its learning curve. Which is to say, I have waited up to a half-hour for a shawarma at Knafeh Nabulseyeh. And I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

Chicken shawarma wrap.Justin McManus

Why? I think it has to do with the ratio. At first, the wrap looks dainty, almost unsubstantial, but when you bite into it, you realise it has the perfect proportion of soft bread to juicy meat to crunchy pickle.

I’m a sucker for chicken shawarma, and the one here is good, but the lamb is absolutely the way to go in this instance. It’s intensely smoky, crisp and juicy, and just fatty enough, emblematic of all the good things that fire can do to meat.

The thwack of parsley is palpable, more so than it would be in a heftier assemblage. The tahini is just present enough to lend its creamy, nutty blessing without overwhelming or obscuring the sharper, more vegetal flavours. It is just a $16 sandwich, but it is also so much more. Do I sound obsessed? I am.

Falafel plate with tahini.Jarvis McManus

And if I weren’t obsessed with the shawarma, I’d be obsessed with the falafel, which is crusty on the outside and bright green on the inside and gorgeously herbaceous. I’ve taken to ordering a box of six falafel balls to take home whenever I get my shawarma, to crumble over greens for an easy lunch, to munch on from the fridge when I need something nourishing between meals.

Other things that have become habit, now that I’m duty-bound to go to Coburg for this shawarma several times a month: buying boxes of Knafeh Nabulseyeh’s gorgeous, delicate cashew baklava to take to dinner parties or give as gifts; buying slabs of the namesake pastry (knafeh) – a cheese and kataifi layered situation that is worthy of its own obsession – as a treat for myself when I meet my deadlines.

The cheesy namesake knafeh pastry.Justin McManus

Melbourne is an amazing and delicious place to live, for so many reasons. Often, those reasons are not thanks to a restaurant group with deep-funded backers, and more thanks to an immigrant family looking to provide their community with a taste of home.

The shawarma at Knafeh Nabulseyeh is not made quickly, it’s not made to be eaten off china, it’s not pretending to be anything it isn’t. But it has made more of a difference to my eating life than any other single food item I can recall recently. What a blessing.