There are a lot of places that make the proverbial Gaziantep baklava but only a few places that maintain the same quality. One such place is Köşkeroğlu Baklava in Karaköy, Istanbul, and this place reminds me of my high school years and the breakfasts I had here with tea and poğaça (a Turkish pastry).
Some of the personnel are still the same people. Seeing them was delightfully surprising as it made me reminisce about the good old days. I tried a lot of desserts at this place of my youth. The thing I liked the best was their well-balanced use of sugar. It doesn’t make one lose his appetite. Two of my favorites were fıstıklı burma (rolled filo dough with pistachio filling)and burma kadayıfı (shredded wheat dessert with pistachio filling). I love the crispy texture of the burmakadayıfı. They use plenty of pistachio in these desserts. Generally, the biggest problem of the burmakadayıfı is the over-use of butter but Köşkeroğlu does a good job.
Their pistachio baklava is better than Güllüoğlu but not enough to create a lasting impression in my mind. Their katmer (a crispy flaky pastry) is also good but unfortunately, they weren’t as successful at the kebab business. At least, the lack of flavor that their kebabs suffer from has not affected the dessert section yet.
For baklava, my favorite is still “Cici” in Mersin. I didn’t have such good baklava even in Antep, but I’m sure people of Antep would disagree with me. And I also know that the locals of Antep don’t think very highly of the baklava they have in Istanbul but if you think about the problems of finding the right ingredients and the baklava master chefs, these places still do a good job. But if pistachio prices keep going up like this, soon it’ll be more expensive than gold. Right now, a kilo of baklava is 56 liras (21 dollars).
Evaluation: 8/10
Address: Mumhane Cd. Under the Multi-Storey Car Park. No:2/3 Karaköy, Istanbul
Telephone: 0212 245 35 14 – 0212 245 52 45
