Surprisingly delicious baklava in SF
I really love baklava.
In the late '00s and early '10s, I spent most of my time in the Middle East where I was spoilt silly with some of the best food, especially dessert. There is truly nothing like the freshness and skill of a centuries-old baklava or other sweet-maker in Damascus and Istanbul.
(A photo of baklava on a plate, taken by Adrianna Tan in Damascus.)
Since moving to San Francisco I have been mostly disappointed by the overly sweet, not too fresh, very sticky store-bought baklava.
I set myself a task to find some of the most delicious ones. If I can't go back to Damascus or Istanbul right now, I'm happy with these.
Golden Bear Trading Company (Inner Sunset)
1401 6th Ave
San Francisco
CA 94122
(Google Maps link)
Near the UCSF Parnassus campus, one of my favorite baklavas at this little grocery store that also stocks baklava freshly made by a Lebanese family in the east bay.
Juicy baklava, with excellent flavors like walnut, pistachio and more. Get the trio box with sesame halwa.
Even though it's not freshly made on site, the baklava is of the highest quality and flavors are delicious. This one is my wife's favorite. You can also pick up dark roast coffee beans and liquor here.
Baklava Story. (SoMa)
1830 Harrison St Suite B
San Francisco
CA 94103
Google Maps link
For freshly made baklava made by an enthusiast young baker who loves baklava, Baklavastory. right behind Rainbow Grocery smells like love.
On entering the shop, several bakers in white scurry about rolling things and putting them in ovens. They specialize in Turkish style baklava, and clearly take it very seriously: their pistachios are from Antep, Turkey, meaning they are a striking vibrant shade of green, small, and very tasty; unlike any other pistachio you've had.
If you have never tried a freshly made baklava that is the right amount of sweet, run here.
Aegean Delights (Castro)
545 Castro St
San Francisco
CA 94114
Google Maps link
This cute little shop in the Castro is owned by a Greek-Turkish couple who wanted to showcase their dessert cultures. The exterior of the shop is a little confusing as it looks more like a gift shop (cute trinkets from that region); saunter up to the counter, however, and you'll find many different types of baklava and other dessert, including Turkish delight.
A word on Turkish delight: I, like so many of you, read about Turkish delights in the Narnia books and really looked forward to trying them. Like most of you, I was deeply disappointed by those commercially made Turkish delights that are the main ones available outside of Turkey. I wrote them off. After trying lokum in Turkey, I realized it was worlds apart. Like having a very good cookie made by a friend who's a great baker, versus having a damp or hard airport cookie. Aegean Delights is one of the few places I know of here with lokum, so if that's on your list of things to try, I'd recommend it, along with their more unique baklava, like the large Istanbul pistachio baklava, or the many different types of rolls.