One-way sip to an Ottoman pastry shop

Baklava Martini will take you on a journey.

Everyone who tried saving money on food in Denmark is familiar with bazaars. Small shops run by Middle-Eastern families save budgets with humongous bags of rice at a good price, providing reasonable sustenance for months ahead. But every time you walk past their bakery section, you are tempted to spend your weekly allowance on that sheet of baklava. Tears have been cried over that delicious piece of pastry.

But all that saved money comes in handy during the weekend. Enter Balderdash, get handed their super sexy menu and behold; the Baklava Martini. Your heart skips a beat. Yes, please!

The bartenders are grinning, they know very well what they’re doing. Each item on the menu is meticulously crafted to make you salivate even before the liquids meet in a shaker. When the drink finally finds its coupette and introduces itself to you, it’s love at first sniff.

Courtesy of rose-water sprayed on as the garnish, aromas of honey and roasted nuts are swell together with the oriental smell of roses, and your thoughts are back in that bazaar where you stared at the sweet goodness for who knows how long. You’re almost half dreaming but as you bring yourself back to reality, you see the delicious drink right in front of you. The dreams are materializing.

It will be clear to you at first sip that drinks at Balderdash are not something you will easily recreate at home.
But if you feel tremendously inspired, follow these guidelines:

Sous vide vodka, coffee, sugar, cardamom pods, and water for 2 hours at 55 degrees.
Blend together oat milk, tahini, and honey.
Make pistachio-salt by drying pistachios to a crumble and mixing them with salt.
Rose-water spray consists of regular rose-water and rose-distillate.

The drink is shaken and fine-strained into a coupette.

The first sip takes you on a magical trip through cardamom fields, coffee roasteries and vast amounts of honeycombs. Baklava Martini is a dense drink with a lovely texture and great mouthfeel. You can almost feel the strings of the pastry moving around your mouth and the pistachios dancing on your tongue.

Sweetness is ever present in the cocktail, yet always in balance. Just like the pastry itself, the honey adds a syrupy quality that doesn’t overwhelm the senses. Hints of coffee, roasted nuts, burnt caramel, and freshly baked dough sparkle on your palate, it’s flavour heaven. Despite all the oriental ingredients, the drink feels very familiar and you know what to expect. It’s like a reinvented Espresso Martini, just much better – very fragrant, full of associable flavours, and of course, a guilty pleasure. But don’t worry, we too went for another.

The Baklava Martini is a drink your tastebuds won’t forget easily. You might be left to wander around the rest of the city, looking for something that comes close, but you are most likely to come back into Balderdash’s arms. But don’t get too comfortable, they have a couple more drinks to blow your mind with. You better be ready…

Yes, we hear you – more dessert cocktails are needed, we’ll get there, pinky promise! Meanwhile, check out the all-time favourite guilty pleasure from Gensyn or Google the location of the closest bazaar.

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Jiri Malis
Pretending to be a flamboyant aficionado behind the bar during the weekend, pretentiously scribbling about cocktails the rest of the week. Is your cocktail not good enough? Add more port wine!