Afternoon Tea Puddings, Baklavas & Sweets

If you’ve a sweet tooth like the average Turk, these are the signs you’ll be looking for as you wander through the streets of any Turkish town. A tatlıcı will sell you helva, Turkish delight and ice creams; a şekerci will sell confectionery; a muhallebici will sell milky puddings; and a pastane will sell pastries (often including baklava, but if you’re a connoisseur of the prince of pastries, you should look for a baklavacı, which serves nothing else). And at street stalls in Tarsus, on the Mediterranean coast, you’ll find the iced rosewater pudding called bici bici (pronounced ‘beegee beegee’).