The layer of cream made the sale.
Once I dug in, I also admired the delicately matted shreds of wheat, and the restrained rather than syrupy sweetness, of my kanafa. More recently, a square of milk-pudding-like mahalabiya showed similar restraint ($2 each). The baker was a seven-year veteran of now-closed Laziza Sweets, down the block, and today is equally well-established at Al-Sham. The pastries in the large front window gleam at passersby with the self-assurance you'd expect, even from across the street.
Al-Sham Sweets & Pastries
(in the bottom photo, at left, beside Little Morocco)
24-39 Steinway St. (25th Ave.-Astoria Blvd.), Astoria, Queens
718-777-0876
