Hafiz Mustafa Restaurant Review

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On one of our last nights in Istanbul, my family stopped by a popular bakery called Hafiz Mustafa, which was close to the water. My mum ordered a baked rice pudding, which was a tasty rice pudding with an interesting twist. The baked top added some texture and a burnt-in-a-good-way flavor much like roasted marshmallows.

Out of all the puddings, this white one was recommended to me by the worker. He also recommended the strawberry one, but I opted for the more foreign one, whose name I can't remember at the moment. It would've been better in a smaller portion, since the flavor was rather strong.

My dad ordered a type of kanafeh once again recommended by the servers to us. It was definitely a good choice due to the familiar baklava taste, but different in its noodle-like texture. It was foreign without being too unfamiliar for our limited knowledge of Turkish desserts.

My brother's dish was by far the best, being a baklava sampler plate. They had honey based baklava and milk baklava. I had never had milk baklava before my trip to Istanbul and I now prefer it over the honey version. Pretty much all of the dishes we had ordered were recommended to us by the waiters other than the rice pudding. All of the servers were extremely friendly and helpful, so in terms of service, this place was probably one of the best places. Also, this restaurant didn't have employees standing outside, trying to force you into their store unlike most stores, which is a major plus.

 My whole family also got a small cup of Turkish coffee, which in my opinion, tastes like extremely concentrated coffee. It's supposed to help with digestion, if I remember correctly. So, if you like your coffee on the bitter side, I recommend this. 

Lastly, this is a wonderful place to just sit and watch the world go by. I recommend the second level, so that you can get a view of the waterfront and of all the people passing by in front of you. It was interesting for me to see all of the different people walk by and to just see life happening. Really a beautiful way to end such a wonderful trip!