English
The baklava is a typical Eastern Mediterranean sweet. It´s origin is unclear, as some say that it´s Turkish, others consider it Greek and some even consider it Chinese. In any case, it´s a delicious dessert that I highly recommend that you try.
The baklava has its origin in the old Mesopotamia, modern day Turkey, even though they believe that the Assyrians in the 7th century BC were the first ones to make such a sweet. In the old days, it was made in wood ovens.
In the 19th century, it was considered a dessert for the high classes due to its aphrodisiac qualities.
Greek merchants exported the recipe to Athens after their delight at having learned about this delicious sweet, and they adapted it to their recipes, improving the texture of the dough.
It´s also considered a Chinese sweet due to the Mongol origin of the word. In 1330, it appears in a Chinese recipe book of the Yuan Dynasty.
The original baklava is Turkish, and it´s made from a dough of crushed walnuts bathed in honey or syrup with sesame seeds or pistachios. However, the Greek version is filo pastry filled with walnuts and bathed in honey.
Here´s a recipe in case you fancy trying it out:
First you will need a few filo pastry layers. You then brush them with melted butter between layer and layer and add the crushed walnuts until you get as many layers as you wish, although the required 33 might be a bit hard for a novice. You cut the dough in same-size triangles and you moisten it with water before baking it at 180ºC for 40 minutes until golden. Once you take it out of the oven, you leave it for 15 minutes and then cover it with previously prepared syrup. The syrup will contain water, lemon and sugar. It´s then garnished with pistachios and set aside for an hour so that the dough can absorb the whole syrup.
There are many places where you can find baklava, such as in most tea shops, and Arabic and Turkish restaurant.
However, to try the best baklava, I recommend that you visit Turkey:
Haci Baba Restaurant in Ankara
Necatibey Cad., Ankara 06660 Turkey
Karakoy Gulluoglu Restaurant in Istanbul
Mumhane Cad. No. 171 Karakoy, 34425 Istanbul, Turkey
Antepli Et Lokantasi Restaurant
Akyar Mevkii Ege Vista Alls-Veris Merkezi, No. 4/4 Aydin, Kusadasi, Turkey
Sevinc Pastanesi Cake Shop
Ali Cetinkaya Bulvari, No. 31/A, Alsancak, Izmir, Turkey
In Madrid:
Restaurante / tapeo El Yantar de Ayer
Mercado de San Miguel
Plaza de San Miguel, SN, 28004 Madrid
Umayyad Cake Shop
C/ Alcalá, 125, 28001, Madrid
Pastelería Árabe Salamät
C/ Tribulete, 10 Madrid
They also deliver it to your home.
In Paris:
Sous le Cédre Restaurant
15 rue de Babylone, 75007, Paris
In Greece:
Eucalyptus Taverna Restaurant
Main Road, Agios Stefanos NE 49100 Greece
In New York:
Güllüoglu Baklava Café Restaurant
982 2nd Ave (between 51st and 52nd St)
New York, NY 10022
In the Midtown East
In Lisbon:
Vértigo Café
Travessa Do Carmo, 4, 1200-094 Lisbon
In Londron:
Tugra Baklava Cake Shop
30 Stoke Newington Road London N16 7XJ, London
