A Tour in the Making of Baklava in Istanbul

by Joan Peterson, author of Eat Smart in Turkey: How to Decipher the Menu, Know the Market Foods, & Embark on a Tasting Adventure

Baklava is a rich, sweet pastry featured in many cuisines of the former Ottoman countries. It is made of layers of yufka (in Turkish), or phyllo (in Greek) dough, filled with chopped nuts, such as walnuts, almonds, or pistachios, and sweetened with syrup or honey. The result is a dish so delicious that not only was it served to royalty, but numerous ethnic groups claim it as their own.

While traveling all around Turkey in the mid 1990s, researching the food for my upcoming EAT SMART culinary travel guidebook, I met many kind and generous Turkish people who wanted to help me learn about their food. One man in particular, the manager of a hotel in Antalya, contacted folks in several cities I would be visiting after I left Antalya, who said they would be delighted to introduce me to their regional cuisine. The man he recommended to me in the city of Gaziantep didn’t speak English, and this fact set up an unusual chain of happy events that led to a marvelous food experience not only then but on all my culinary tours I ultimately started leading to Turkey.

The recommended man in Gaziantep reached out to a friend of his who could speak English--Efkan Güllü--and he became my host in Gaziantep. But the really fascinating story is that Efkan was, at the time, the current head of the Gaziantep branch of Güllüoğlu, the finest baklava makers in Turkey. I had the chance to tour his factory and sample many types of baklava desserts, as well as several other desserts made with tel kadayıf, delicate strands of griddle-fried dough made of flour and water, which are gathered from the griddle in large handfuls when done. ​

Efkan kindly made arrangements for me to visit the Güllüoğlu baklava makers in Istanbul when I returned there at the end of my research trip before heading home. Although the Güllüoğlu family started their baklava adventure in Gaziantep (1820), other branches of the family were in the baklava business as well. The Istanbul branch I visited was in the Karaköy district. It was the first branch of the company business outside of Gaziantep, begun in 1949. The current head of this branch is Nadir Güllü. He gave me the full tour of his fascinating 7-story factory. Among the floors, there is one devoted to making the dough and rolling it out to create baklava and other desserts; one where the treats are baked and then doused with sugar syrup; one for offices; and one that is a dormitory for the men, who also work during Ramadan and are usually too tired to go home since they have fasted all day. The basement was actually intriguing as well. It had all the typical equipment basements have, furnaces, water purification units, etc., and everything was painted either bright yellow, blue, or red. It was the cleanest most colorful basement I ever saw. ​

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Before I could be shown around the facility, I had to wear booties over my shoes, a hairnet, and a gauzy cover up. Everything was immaculate. The experience was unforgettable. When I subsequently began thinking about leading tours, and to Turkey specifically, I naturally wanted to include a visit to Nadir Güllü and his baklava factory on our itinerary.  Fortunately, Nadir was thrilled to have our tour group visit his factory. It was the first time he had a tour group come to his factory, let alone a culinary tour group, which was a rather new tour focus then.

​We all had the chance to take a turn at rolling out the dough, which was quite a challenge. Since that first tour in 1998 we have brought many tours to Turkey over the years, and we always visit Nadir’s factory. After the tour, we walk over to his retail shop a block away, and enjoy a wonderful sampling of yummy Güllüoğlu baklava.

Soon after that first tour, news of our visit to the baklava factory in Istanbul began capturing the interest of tour operators around the world. As a result, Nadir Güllü is now justly quite famous not only for the quality of his baklava but for the multitude of international tour groups that visit his factory every year. And to think that I started it all!