Baklava

Baklava is one of the great desserts of world history, and its origin is contested with an intensity that reflects just how important the dish has become across cultures. The Ottoman Empire (which encompassed what is now Turkey, the Arab world, the Balkans, and North Africa) had the greatest influence on the dish's development, particularly in the palace kitchens of Topkapı in Istanbul where baklava-making reached its highest technical expression.

The earliest precursors appear in Central Asian Turkic cuisine as layered pastry with nuts, and similar preparations existed in ancient Greece and Persia. What the Ottoman palace kitchens added was the extraordinarily thin stretching of dough — "yufka" — to the point of near-translucency, and the use of high-quality Antep pistachios and clarified butter. The Ramadan baklava ceremony at Topkapı Palace, where baklava was distributed to the Janissary corps on the 15th day of Ramadan, was one of the most elaborate food rituals in the empire.

Our baklava uses thin layers of filo dough, chopped pistachios, and butter, soaked in a cold sweet syrup. Served cold, it holds its crispness and allows the full flavour of the pistachio to come through. We also offer cold baklava — a refrigerated version where the syrup is chilled before application, giving a crunchier, lighter result.