Dessert at Shakira

Ay, ay, ay, Shakira!

Okay, not this Shakira!

With a pastry store right next to Nahrain, we couldn't help but peek in...

to see what delicacies awaited us...

There were cases of sweets filled with dates, honey, and rose syrup...

Along with so many types of baklava (some with pistachios and some with walnuts).

So many different kinds to choose from!

The bakery inside is quite large. There is seating on both sides. This side had a huge oven where a man was baking flat breads. Along the wall (not pictured) were three fake wedding cakes.

Cookies and sweets are sold by the pound. Bert chose these cookies. The squiggly thing was chosen by TC. They are made from syrup and are super sweet. They didn't taste as good as the Indian version we had at Surati Farsan Market. The cookies were just bleh to me. The chocolate one in the middle was dipped in ground pistachios and looked quite pretty.

Now these baklava were much better than the cookies. We ate one piece each before heading home. My favoirte was the round shape with pistachios in the middle. Bert liked the square with the folded up corners.

This one:

Loved this flaky baklava!

There would be more desserts to share later that evening, the ones bought from Nijiya Market. All of these beautifully prepared baklava make me wish there was a bakery of comparable quality in the South Bay. Alas, there isn't and if we ever get another craving for baklava, will gladly make the trek out to El Cajon to go to Shakira or King of Nablus Sweets

Update - Here they are!

Mini "baum" cakes:

Formally known as "baumkuchen" (meaning "tree cake" or "log cake"), this rolled cake is a traditional dessert in Europe as well as Japan. These mini's were so cute and tasted very buttery! TC enjoyed unraveling hers.

Here's another dessert I bought at Nijiya - a box of six creampuffs with three flavors (two of each):

My favorite was the chocolate. The green tea, not so much. Later the next day, I attempted to eat the tofu cheese flavor and it dropped to the floor. Forget about the "five second" rule, there was no way I was going to eat something that fell on the floor. So I can't really tell you about the tofu cheese flavor except that Bert liked it.

Because my eyes were "big" that day, I also bought two mini mousse cakes that got slightly smashed on the top in transit.

Of the two, I liked the blueberry the best. The top of the cake was a flavored 'gelee' which looked quite pretty. The blueberry really tasted like blueberry but the mango one was weak. The mousse filling was very light and airy.

These cakes weren't overly sweet, but I don't know if I'd buy them again. It was nice to have an assortment of desserts for after dinner...

Up next - more food posts and our Canada trip! I'll get back to Portland eventually!