Petek Pastanesi (Mareşal Çakmak Caddesi)

The story this patisserie tells about itself starts a long way from Hatay. Its founder, known as Tevfik Usta, learned pastry work alongside his father in Moscow, left Russia after the October Revolution, ran a patisserie in Tehran for seven years, and only settled in İskenderun in 1939, the same year Hatay joined Turkey, buying a bakery there. He returned to his actual trade on 19 May 1942, opening with four tables and sixteen chairs. Four generations of the same family have run the business since. This particular address is on Mareşal Çakmak Caddesi, at number 16, directly opposite the municipal building; the company's store list gives it without a district suffix, unlike its other branches. The product line follows the company catalogue. Nut pastes, sugar-free desserts, handmade chocolates and madlen boxes, künefe and kadayıf, baklava, Turkish delight and dried fruit and nuts each hold their own category, alongside packaged gift boxes. A regional section reaches into Hatay's own kitchen: ready-to-bake Antakya kömbe dough, kaytaz böreği filled either with minced beef or with pepper paste and curd, içli köfte, the aged cheese called sürk, pomegranate molasses and cold-pressed olive oil. Turkish coffee is packed under the house name.