Our Story
Our Turkish history.
Est. 1989 · Baklavaci · Edgbaston
Where it all began.
Fatma G, Turkiye Conference, Birmingham 2011
How it started
Fatma came to Birmingham from Turkey in 1989, opened a bakery on the high street in Selly Oak, and let the baklava do the talking. No advertising. No grand plan. Just recipes that tasted exactly as they should.
Word spread the way it always does with food that tastes genuine. She then opened a café in Harborne. Restaurants across the city began ordering our baklava and now, we have our own kitchen in Edgbaston, where every order is still baked fresh, to order, by the same hands.
The recipes haven't changed. The care hasn't changed. Nothing needed to.
Fatma, Founder
Where the recipe comes from
In Turkish culture, baklava isn't something you buy, it's something you make for someone. It's brought to a neighbour's door at Eid. It's presented at weddings and celebrations. It's given to guests as a gesture that says: you matter enough for us to make this.
That feeling is still in every box that leaves our kitchen. The ingredients are better sourced now. The kitchen is bigger. But the intention behind it, the warmth, the care, the pride — that hasn't changed since the first tray she made in Birmingham.
Thirty-five years in the making
Turkey
The beginning
Fatma's passion for baking grew up with her, recipes and techniques that were simply part of family life.
1989
Selly Oak
Fatma opened a bakery on the high street in Selly Oak. People stopped at the smell. The word spread quickly from there.
Harborne
The café
A café in Harborne gave Birmingham a proper home for traditional Turkish pastry.
Birmingham
City & Sutton
Restaurants in Sutton Coldfield and the city centre began serving Baklavaci baklava to their customers.
Edgbaston
Today
Our own kitchen. Every order baked fresh, by hand. The same recipes. The same care.
What We Believe
The standards Fatma set in 1989. The standards we hold to today.
Made by Hand
Every piece is layered, filled and finished by hand. It takes longer. That's the point. A machine can make a lot of things, but it can't make baklava that tastes like it was made by someone who cared.
Never Rushed
We bake to order. Your baklava doesn't exist until you've ordered it. Nothing is made in advance just to save time. That's not how Fatma ever did it.
Always Fresh
Nothing sits on a shelf here. Every order leaves our kitchen on the day it was baked. If we wouldn't serve it at our own table, it doesn't leave ours.
The Kitchen
A glimpse behind the scenes
