Tasting Notes
Zeki İnal is a small family baklava shop on Atatürk Boulevard in the Alleben area. It has no other branches: everything is made and sold here, and there are only a few tables inside. The business carries the name of its founder, and his son Bülent İnal now runs the counter.
Şöbiyet, the shop’s speciality
Şöbiyet is a Gaziantep variation on baklava: thin sheets of pastry folded into triangles around a filling of cream and green pistachios, baked and soaked in a light syrup. It is the item most people come for. The counter also has pistachio baklava, havuç dilimi (wedge-shaped baklava named after a slice of carrot), dolama, a roll of pastry packed with whole pistachios, and pistachio cookies. Everything is made with clarified butter.
Buying by the kilo
Prices are per kilo and you can ask for a mixed box. Trays are prepared in limited amounts, so the most popular items, şöbiyet above all, can run out in the afternoon.
“Go in the morning, when the trays are fresh, and order şöbiyet first; if you want baklava to take home, ask for a mixed box by the kilo.”
LR Kitchen — field note