Kunafa, baklava @ Sham Eastern Sweets
43 Lodge Ln, Toxteth, Liverpool, L8 0QE
There has been a baklava shop at this address on Lodge Lane for around six years now, changing ownership — or at least name — a few times since then. Regardless of what’s above the door, though, the sweets have always been excellent.
It’s a small set-up here: a coffee machine, a cabinet filled with iced sponge cakes and, what you’ve really come for, a glass counter stacked with trays of baklava.
The selection here is quite traditional (or at least I believe it is) there are no coconut or Nutella sweets. Instead, the pastries and vermicelli nests are filled mostly with walnut and pistachio — the latter almost glowingly green — each one beautifully crisp. Even the smallest pieces are heavy with honey syrup, the sweetness complementing the earthiness of the nuts.
But the real revelation is the kunafa — sweetened cheese which has a texture somewhere between set custard and clotted cream, but lighter than both. This sandwiched in a thin, crackling layer of shredded vermicelli and all flavoured lightly with rosewater. It’s something magic.
