Baklava

For two weeks in a year, Iranian Sweets Palace (in Mumbai) opens it's doors and sells excellent traditional Baklava - an Iranian/Egyptian/Turkish/Greek desert. The shop is the only one in India selling the real thing for two weeks before Navroze. In 2005, your chance to visit this shop is till 21st March, though you should go the previous week, from 11am to 8pm.

Baklava is a desert fit for the kings. It is strips of pastry with nut filling inside. What you get in Iranian Sweets Palace is largely the exquisite filling. Dry fruits and nuts cooked in ghee for at least seven hours (forget that diet for now). When we were at the shop the rich aroma was overwhelming and we could only sample a small piece. But now, having gone through half a kg of Baklava (with friends of course), I respect, admire, and am in awe of the desert.

The person who makes this is a share trader and real estate agent for the rest of the year. For 2 weeks he gets out his family's 90 year old copper vessels and wooden spoons, and makes tons of Baklava according to his secret family recipe.

The Baklava is 360/- per kg. (for all flavour variants) and worth every paisa. The shop is in Bhendi Bazar. One lane north of Bhendi Bazar signal, under the Mohammed Ali road flyover, is a shop called Metro Opticians. Iranian Sweets Palace is a couple of shops into that lane (called Imamwada road in Dongri).

We found out about this place in the latest issue of Time Out Mumbai.
Some baklava links courtesy Google:
A history of Baklava.
Online shopping directory.
Search the web for tonnes of recipes.