ERBIL, KRI, Iraq (North Press) – When you enter his parlor you can hear the wooden mihbaj (a thick long wooden wand to pound the ice cream) resonates, hammering in a metal pot to which Yasser To’meh is used to hear since he was in Syria.
Manually, with the wooden mihbaj, T’omeh pounds the ice cream in a metal pot after being mixed with milk, sugar, mastic, cream and a little salt on a slow fire.
He hammers the components until they become silky-soft texture, and he adds pistachio to it. Then Bakdash Ice cream is served; However, in Erbil in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI).
30-year-old T’omeh, a Syrian young man came to Erbil in 2011, fleeing the war in his country. However, his skill at making the ice cream manually has always been helpful. He has transferred the Syrian heritage to Erbil.
On the wall of his parlor a photo is hanged. It dates back to 2008 when To’meh used to work at Bakdash parlor located in Damascus.
The manually made Arabic ice cream is an old Syrian heritage that dates back to 1895, according to To’meh.
Bakdash ice cream parlor in Damascus is one of the well-known trade and tourist destinations in Syria that has been sought by tourists for years.
Bakdash is known both locally and regionally. The Bakdash ice cream parlor, in the Al-Hamidiyah Souq in the ancient city of Damascus, has been visited by notable people working in the arenas of politics and art over the last years.
T’omeh spent about eight years at the Bakdash parlor in Damascus, where he learnt how to make manually the Arabic ice cream.
He recalled memories in Damascus, saying when he came to Erbil people did not know such a kind of ice cream. Hence he was pushed to open a shop of ice cream in Erbil.
He opened the shop four years ago, introducing the Iraqi society to the ice cream mixed with pistachio.
in Erbil he had a lot of challenges, “I spent many days sleeping in parks, sometimes I would sleep hungry, or have a falafel sandwich, then I worked at restaurants and a hotel to finally start my own project.”
The Syrian young man initiated his private project with simple equipment the most important of which is the Mihbaj which he brought from Syria.
At first the raw materials such as mastic and salep were not available, he decided to have them brought from his own country.
Yasser serves now his own Syrian ice cream with its original taste.
The manually made Arabic ice cream mixed with pistachio and cream was applauded by Iraqis. It is under demand since it is the only parlor that serves such kind of ice cream in Erbil.
Proudly To’meh says Iraqis like its taste, and at the same time it reminds the Syrians of the Bakdash ice cream of the Al-Hamidiyah Souq in Damascus.