Do you miss going out with your friends? I certainly do. Maintaining social and physical distancing is no easy task when you’re someone who values the occasional rendezvous like me. But, we all gotta do what we have to do to keep ourselves healthy at the moment, no?
What will be the first thing you do when the pandemic is over? I’ve been thinking about that a lot and, boy, there are tons of things I want to do. I would definitely want to catch up with the boyfriend and ask him for a nice warm hug. While we’re at it, maybe we can pay a visit to this particular dessert shop at East Jakarta and unwind with some sweet pastries and Turkish tea.
The name of the dessert shop is Mardin Baklava, a place where you can get some authentic Middle Eastern delights in Jakarta. Some people say that Mardin Baklava has the best baklava in town. I can’t say that I disagree, because I had been coming back and forth to that dessert shop before the pandemic existed and, now, I’m craving for some good deal of baklava. That’s how good Mardin Baklava is.
Despite the fact that Mardin Baklava has no contender in providing the locals with authentic Turkish delights, the sweet pastries that they serve at the shop are made with high quality ingredients, which resulting in a series of high quality dessert as well. I did my research on where else I can get me some authentic baklava here in Jakarta, but the results only leaded me to this particular shop at Jatinegara.
During my first visit at Mardin Baklava, I was awestruck by their array of various baklava displayed on the counter. They were, if I may say, shining, shimmering, and splendid! The color spectrum was beautiful and captivating. If I didn’t get a hold of myself, I would probably buy one of each just because of how attractive they were. Now, I know how baklava tasted because, back in 2010 when my family and I were still living in Doha, Qatar, I had an easy access to baklava as it was being sold in most supermarkets as one of the country’s staple dessert. What intrigued me the most at Mardin Baklava was this particular dessert named Künefe. Although a portion of this Middle Eastern dessert can cost you most of your weekly allowance, you should definitely give this dessert a try when you have the chance.
Künefe is a dessert made out of noodle-like pastry, cheese, and sugar-based syrup. The one at Mardin Baklava is quite small and pizza-like you would automatically assume the dullness of this dessert. But, wait until you get a fork and cut through it. When you scrape a bit of the dessert, the generous amount of baked melted cheese layered beneath the noodle-like pastry will stretch so far it’ll stretch all the way to Timbuktu. Now, I know my parents taught me not to play with my food, but Künefe is super fun to play with I couldn’t help myself!
The combination of the thin and crunchy pastry with the gooey and melted cheese is to die for. Despite it being soaked in sugar-based syrup, making the whole being of a Künefe a little too sweet even for my sweet tooth, I love the unique flavor of this dessert - sugary sweet from the syrup, milky and savory from the cheese, and savory and doughy from the pastry. It is so delicious! But, I have to say, the amount of syrup in this dessert is very overwhelming, I always get a sore throat after every Künefe I ate at Mardin Baklava. If you can’t handle sugar like me, you can always opt for your Künefe with less sugar. The staff at Mardin Baklava offered me to modify the dose of sugar in my Künefe, but I settle for the regular sugar because I wanted to know how the dessert would taste like authentically.
As a personal preference, I would suggest that you indulge on your Künefe with a serving of warm Turkish Tea. Compared to any regular tea you’ll find in the supermarket, Turkish tea is way stronger, thicker, and more bitter. Of course a serving of Mardin Baklava’s Turkish tea comes with some rock sugar for those of you who like your tea sweet. But, would you want an extra dose of sugar after all that Künefe you have? Trust me, it is best to sip on the tea as it is. It’ll help you neutralize all that sugary sweetness from the Künefe you just devoured.
Sure, you can bring the Künefe home, so that your family can also get a taste of that savory and sweet pastry, but the cheese wouldn’t be as stretchy compared to when it just got out of the oven - as it stiffen when it gets a bit of a cold air. So, if you want to bring something home for the family, always go for the baklava.
As I mentioned previously, Mardin Baklava has quite the collection of baklava displayed on its’ front counter. When seen with the naked eye, I could spot three types of nut that they use to make their baklava, which are cashew, pistachio, and walnut. Some of them were drizzled on top as a finishing touch to the baklava, while some are hidden beneath the layers of thin filo pastry. I’m pretty sure every baklava has its’ own unique nut flavor, but I’m certain that all of them have the same basic flavor, which are nutty and sweet.
Compared to the Künefe, baklava is way sweeter. I could only eat a tiny bite of it at a time because of how sweet it is, yet most of the baklavas are already bite-sized. The thin layer of filo pastry gets soggy after being bathe with the sugar-based syrup, making the entire texture of the baklava compact, chewy, and only a little bit crunchy. At Mardin Baklava, you can only get your baklava by the grams instead of buying it individually. They have different types of packaging for the petite dessert, ranging from 100 grams to a kilo, and you can mix it up to your heart’s content.
I once got me the 100 grams, thinking that it may not be sufficient to feed the whole family, yet I was stand corrected. I asked the staff to mix up my baklava, as long as they’re within my 100 grams limit, and what I got was more than a dozen type of individual baklava in my gift box. The size varies from big to small and it was definitely suffice for my family of seven. We sliced and share the baklava one by one, and we got immediately full after our third baklava because of how sweet and heavy they were.
During this pandemic, Mardin Baklava is still open for business, both dine in and delivery through Go-Food and Grab Food. I would love to place my order online so that I can cure my longing for its’ delicious and sweet Künefe, but I think I’m going to wait until this whole quarantine thing is over, so that I can enjoy my dessert warm and fresh from the oven. Soon, I hope.
Mardin Baklava
Jl. Cipinang Jaya Raya, No. 74
RT 008 / RW 007, Cipinang Besar Selatan
Kecamatan Jatinegara, Jakarta Timur - 13410
Opening Hours (Quarantine Period):
MON - SUN: 1 PM - 10 PM
Contact:
+62 821 1203 3331
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