Family owned and operated since 1977, Swiss Pastries is a top European-style dessert bakery tucked away north of the Twinbrook Metro station. A wholesale bakery popular with caterers and hotels, it has no minimum order, insists owner Martha Hohl. Just call a day or two ahead and she and her sons Michael and John would be happy to craft a black forest cake, a box of Napoleons or a few spinach quiches.
A native German, Hohl's European-style baking (her husband Johann was trained in Switzerland) is popular among the Embassy crowd (Austria, Saudi Arabia, Finland and Hungary have placed orders recently), as well as with country clubs and party planners.
Well known among the local Middle Eastern community, the Yasaman Bakery has been baking delightfully traditional Persian pastries, cookies and sweets for over 25 years, for both everyday and special occasions.
Their Baghlava is moist, crumbly and dense, yet inexplicably light, sweetened with rose water and ground pistachios. The fruit mini-tarts look delicious, and their signature Zoolbia-Bamieh are a treat to behold.
For Zoolbia, a light yogurt batter is poured into fine strands, fried and drenched in a sweet rose water syrup. These are the delicate Persian equivalent of micro-funnel cakes. The Bamieh fritters are grape-sized, made with an egg-based batter that, once fried, soaks up the yummy syrup all the way to their core. Yasaman's Zoolbia-Bamieh makes for an exceptionally exquisite dessert (and just a bit sticky!), sure to please your sweet tooth, no matter what your heritage.
They can create custom cakes for any occasion, and provide delivery for wedding cakes. Yasaman also carries a variety of essential Persian ingredients, from grape seed oil and pomegranate concentrate to bulk almonds, pistachios and other regional nuts.
