You know you're in the presence of excellent baklava when you have to eat it practically standing over the sink. The nutty dessert employs a rich, sweet syrup that—if you're not paying attention—will inevitably find a way to seep out of its filo shell and end up all over the floor. Such is the case with the offerings from Safir Bakery, a Turkish operation that serves hands down the best baklava in the city.
The Sheepshead Bay bakery specializes in all sorts of Turkish treats from sesame seed-strewn simit to creamy sütlaç, a kind of rice pudding. But it's their pastries like baklava and burma that are truly something special, most notably because the bakery hand-makes the paper-thin filo dough in-house. When it comes to making exemplary baklava, this goes a very long way.
The filo are layered with melted butter and finely chopped walnuts or pistachios, per your preference. Once they're out of the oven, they're cut and doused in a sweet syrup that penetrates the pastry and gives it the signature stickiness. The resulting product is soft, nutty, sweet and will absolutely drip all over your clothes/the floor if you're not properly prepared.
The bakery sells four pieces for $4 or in larger quantities for $9.99 per pound. Anyone who brings in a tray to work will be instantly crowned the office hero—guaranteed!
2724 Avenue U, (718) 934-3888; website
