· 3 min read
What are syrniki? The cottage-cheese pancakes worth crossing Dubai for
Syrniki explained: the Slavic breakfast pancakes made from farmer’s cheese, how we make ours in-house, and when to eat them at Sfumato.
If you only try one sweet thing at Sfumato, many of our regulars would tell you to make it the syrniki. They are small, golden and slightly crisp outside, soft and tangy inside, and they arrive with sour cherry compote and a spoon of sour cream. They are also one of the dishes that people from Kyiv, Almaty and Moscow tend to photograph before they eat.
Pancakes made from cheese
Syrniki — the name comes from syr, the word for cheese in Ukrainian and Russian — are made mostly from tvorog, a fresh, crumbly farmer’s cheese similar to a dry cottage cheese or quark. The cheese is mixed with egg, a little flour or semolina and a touch of sugar, shaped into thick rounds and fried in butter until golden.
Good syrniki taste of the cheese first and the sugar second. They should be light enough not to feel heavy at breakfast and firm enough to hold their shape on the fork. Too much flour and they turn into ordinary pancakes; too little and they collapse in the pan. Getting the balance right is a daily job.
How we make ours
Our syrniki are made in-house every day, like our breads, ferments and pastry. We serve them with a sour cherry compote — the sharpness of the cherry is the classic partner for the mild cheese — and sour cream rather than whipped cream, because the slight acidity keeps every bite fresh.
You will find them on the breakfast menu, Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 11:30, and all day on Saturdays during The Long Morning. The AED 90 breakfast includes one dish and a coffee, so syrniki and a flat white is a perfectly respectable way to start the day.
Syrniki, pancakes or fritters?
Visitors sometimes call them cheese pancakes, cheesecake pancakes or curd fritters. All three are roughly right. In Poland a similar dish is called racuchy z serem; in the Baltics you will find versions with raisins or vanilla; at home many families add a little lemon zest. We keep ours close to the classic, so the cheese can speak.
What to pair them with
- A cappuccino or a V60 from our coffee bar — the house uses specialty beans and proper extraction.
- Something savoury to share: the shakshuka with Uzbek-spiced tomato is a favourite.
- On Saturdays, the central table with labneh, mutabal, bircher muesli and warm pastry, free for every guest.
A breakfast built for weekdays
Sfumato was designed for ordinary days rather than special occasions — a place you can come to on a Tuesday before work and still feel looked after. Syrniki fit that idea perfectly. They take real effort to make well, yet they feel like home on the plate.
Come and try them at the ME Dubai in Opus Tower, Business Bay. Walk in, no booking needed; for groups, a WhatsApp message to +971 58 101 5649 helps us prepare your table.
