We visited a shop which sold just cakes and baklavas. The place had a lot of baklavas to choose from, but first let's learn about Baklava and what it is! Welcome to the Muhtesem Baklava Shop.
Baklava | [baːklavaː]
It is a very sweet dessert pastry, made with filo, nuts and syrup. If you're not a sweet tooth you'll only want 2, and no more! This sweet is popular in the Middle East and Central Asia. (See more in the Preparation section below)
Arabic: بقلاوه • English: Baklava • Persian: باقلبا
Setting
The shop was very quiet when we were there. They had tables around for anyone who wanted to enjoy the treat in the store. There are cabinets around the entire shop, and on this visit we were very interested in the baklava.
So many to choose from
Food
Our local friend told us this place has the best baklava in town. With his advice, we picked two that he highly recommended. There were only two of us eating so we got two of each. The shopowner plated our baklava very beautifully, sprinkling chopped nuts and pistachios over our chosen item.
The same sweet, but two completely differently looking ones
Something Different
Delicious, but very very sweet. Similar to how people have their teas here, a lot of sweetness go into baklava. When you take a bite into the baklava, it is soft and "wet" with syrup. By all means it's delicious, but some people might be put off by how drenched in syrup this sweet is. Unfortunately the shop didn't provide tea so we just had the sweet and left. It was better than drinking soda after!
Price: 2500 IQD each (~$2 US)
On the price scale, I'll rate it as pricy (4/5). I'm hoping in Turkey (where it originated from), it will be cheaper so I can try every single shape and variety out there!
Preparation
Generally baklavas are made in a large pan. You'll find they are presented in stores on big circle or rectangular pans. Here's the quick summary of how baklava is made:
- Layers of filo is laid on the pan, along with butter and oil
- Layers of chopped nuts are added: walnut, pistachios (which gives the green colour), or hazelnut
- Step 1and 2 are repeated to produce multiple layers
- Cut the dough into squares, diamond, triangle or parallelogram
- Bake
- Pour syrup (honey, rose water) and allow to soak in.
Restaurant Information
Muhtesem Baklava
Barzan Highway, Duhok, Iraq
Dohuk City's Best Baklava
This post participated in the Tasteem contest My favourite dessert