In our 4 day stay in Istanbul, we visited three times!! You’ll find branches scattered around the city. They are everywhere! Conveniently located near tourist attractions and hot spots too. So, you cannot miss them really. The reason for our visit was pure addiction though and in particular with one dish.
We tried the caramel milk cake, kunafa, baklava with ice cream and cream, chicken pudding, sutlac (rice pudding), Turkish delight, Turkish tea, apple tea and pomegranate tea. Yes, we didn’t hold back.
Tea
The teas were all decent, but I’d stick to the normal Turkish tea as opposed to the apple and pomegranate ones. There are better versions of these teas especially in the Egyptian spice bazaar.
Kunafa and Baklava
The kunafa and baklava were also pretty good. I’m quite loyal to the Nabulsi style kunafa, so even though this was good, it wasn’t the best I’ve had. I think having it with ice cream (which is an option) would’ve made it better. The baklava can be ordered in individual square slices or in what they call a carrot slice. You can add Turkish ice cream (thicker) in between the top and bottom half and you can also add cream (looks like icing sugar) on top too. We ordered the carrot slice baklava with ice cream and cream. It comes with a presentation, which we were not ready for, but yeah I think it is one of, if not their main special of the menu. As it comes out, the staff start clapping and then one pours the cream on top. It tasted really good and particularly the ice cream complemented the baklava really well. I’ve had baklava ice cream sandwiches before, they all seem inferior and cheap copies in comparison to this one. Really good!
Turkish Delight
I’d get Turkish delight from the legendary Hacı Bekir but a quick hack for you – Hafiz Mustafa do small tins of mini Turkish delight – a great way to sample a lot of the flavours and they’re so small they’re super addictive. And it only costs a little over £1. Great gift ideas too? As Turkish delight supposedly can stay good for months.
The chicken pudding deserves its own post (click here).
Sutlac
The sultac, which is Turkish rice pudding, is one of our favourite Turkish desserts. My wife is a massive fan. She’s had the homemade version (always the best) and I’ve had it at a London restaurant and a couple of places in Istanbul. It is basically rice pudding as you probably know it, but served cold and with a slight hint of some kind of spice. It is very subtle, but oh so delicious and moreish. It is quite possibly one of the most pleasing post meal desserts because of its light nature. This one here at Hafiz Mustafa was perfect. It had a slight caramel, vanilla almost custard like taste to it without any eggyness whatsoever. It had a slightly thicker top layer that provided for a nice contrast. My wife says this was even better than the homemade one she had! We even took this away to our hotel one night, and it was still perfect hours later.
Caramel Milk Cake: The Best Thing We Had in Istanbul!
The caramel milk cake was the reason for us returning to this restaurant three days in a row (i.e. the remainder of our trip)! It was pure addiction. From the first bite to the last, it was just pure bliss for the mouth and the tastebuds. I will not even bother describing its taste because I know I will not do it justice. This was the best thing we had on our trip in Istanbul. Hands down! Despite having it so many times, we did not bore one bit and as a matter of fact, we have been craving this one dish since returning. Prior to this, I was never really a milk cake fan. I actually didn’t see the hype around it and I always thought it was something maybe slightly above average. However, this one right here completely changed my mind. This caramel milk cake at Hafiz Mustafa has now become my all time favourite dessert.
Read our post on 6 fascinating facts about Hafiz Mustafa – click here.
Getting There:
Google Location Link: click here (there are many locations, this one is the one near the two famous mosques)
[…] Read about our experience including everything we tried there and our favourite item – click here. […]
[…] A few doors the other way of Tarihi is the legendary Hafiz Mustafa. This should be your number 1 spot for dessert in Istanbul. It is that good! They need no introduction whatsoever. Read more about them here. […]
[…] trying the Hafiz Mustafa version in Istanbul recently and totally becoming addicted to it (read here), I had to go back and give it a try. And this time round I loved it! It was actually really […]