Künefe and Turkish Desserts Beyond Baklava

Beyond Baklava: The World of Turkish Sweets

Baklava may be Turkey's most famous dessert, and rightly so, but it is only the beginning. Turkish cuisine has one of the richest dessert traditions anywhere, spanning syrup-soaked pastries, milk puddings, semolina cakes and chewy confections. If you love baklava, there is a whole table waiting to be explored.

For a deeper look at baklava itself, see our baklava guide. This post is about everything that sits alongside it.

Künefe: The Warm, Cheesy Showstopper

If there is one Turkish dessert that deserves as much attention as baklava, it is künefe. Made from shredded kadayıf pastry layered with a mild stretchy cheese, soaked in syrup and served hot, it arrives crisp on the outside and molten in the middle, usually topped with crushed pistachio.

Eaten fresh from the heat, künefe is unlike any other dessert: sweet and savoury at once, crunchy and gooey together. It is best shared straight away while the cheese still pulls.

Milk Puddings and Turkish Delight

Beyond pastry, Turkey has a gentle tradition of milk-based desserts. Kazandibi, a caramelised milk pudding, and sütlaç, a baked rice pudding, are lighter ways to finish a meal. Then there is lokum, or Turkish delight, the soft, chewy confection flavoured with rose, lemon or pistachio that has been made for centuries.

These desserts show a different side of Turkish sweets: subtle, comforting and less intense than syrup-soaked pastries, and often served with coffee.

Where to Try Turkish Desserts in Pattaya

At Istanbul Restaurant Pattaya, dessert is treated with the same care as the grill. Alongside fresh baklava, the table is the place to discover Turkish sweets you may not have tried before, best enjoyed with a Turkish coffee to balance the sweetness.

Save room. A Turkish meal is not finished until something sweet has arrived, and the choice goes far beyond baklava.

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