Mediterranean Sweets

Mediterranean Sweets is owned by the same guy that owns The Continental Delicatessen, a business that is located a little way down City Road on the opposite side of the street. Whilst The Continental Delicatessen has been around for just over ten years, Mediterranean Sweets is a baby by comparison. It has only been in existence for one and a half years. Although very different in many respects, the two businesses share one key ingredient that allies them on a fundamental level. Both sell products using Halal meat and poultry. The Continental Delicatessen was the first shop on City Road to sell Halal meat and poultry, and so this is unsurprising.
Fazal Ali, the owner, laughs when he tells you that there are now about ten shops on City Road selling Halal meat, supporting this information with the commercial consequences of operating in a saturated market… «no-​ones making money», he almost guffaws… «we’re lucky to be just paying the rent». I guess Fazal has room to laugh. Not only was he the first to meet the demand for Halal meat in the area and so enjoyed exclusivity, and the associated financial rewards of being an innovator, but he also reaps the rewards of not putting all of his eggs in one basket. He is also an electrical engineer, and has worked as one much of his life, only retiring a year or so ago. So! Fazal has made his money and is very comfortable it seems. I’m really glad for him. He’s a really lovely guy!
Mediterranean Sweets is in direct competition with City Bakery, a shop that opened six years ago, and is directly next door to The Continental Delicatessen. City Bakery is a larger outlet than The Continental Delicatessen and so it made sense for Fazal to invest the time and effort to open Mediterranean Sweets.
Everything at Mediterranean Sweets is made from scratch at the shop itself. As you will see in one of the photographs that I’ve uploaded, they have a large oven at the rear of the retail space where much of the magic takes place. I can’t tell you how good the food is here, you are going to have to try it for yourself! Suffice to say that words don’t do it justice!
I can however tell you that all of the people that work here are lovely. Really smiley, jovial people who are also pretty talented!

This Kurdish shop has a whole refrigerator full of different types of balkava — those delicious honey-​soaked pastries stuffed with chopped pistachio nuts and other sweet delights. They also have another counter full of bread, particularly a chunky triangular type of Mediterranean flatbread, and sell some other produce such as falafel.
It’s the sweets I come here for, though, because they have a good choice and you can choose which ones you want to make up your own selection. They charge by weight and wrap up your selection very well so you can carry them home intact (placed on a clear plastic tray and wrapped in cling film). I bought a selection of baklava as a present for a foodie friend and they loved it — and they also make good after-​dinner sweets, especially if you’re having Greek, Turkish or Lebanese cuisine.

Unfortunately I can’t help but compare this to The Falafel Bar on Woodville Road, which is one of the best places to get a quick lunch in Cardiff.
Perhaps it is a little unfair to compare them so heavily because the food here is actually good and I was happy with every aspect of my experience there: the food itself, the service, the price.
But it just lacks a little something. Perhaps it’s just because the shop itself isn’t so nice, or because it’s a little further away from the main route to university for me. Whatever the case, I found my appetite satisfied. But I did want something more from it.
Also, they serve Baklawa, which I think is the stuff that the genie sings about in Aladdin — I must go back to try this!