Syrians taste freedom at famous Damascus ice cream parlour

DAMASCUS: After racing from Lebanon to Syria to celebrate the fall of the Assad regime and making arrangements for his family to follow, 42-year-old Anas Idrees knew what was next on his list of priorities.

He ventured into the grand Hamidiyeh Souk in old Damascus until he arrived at the renowned Bakdash ice cream parlour, then ordered a large scoop of their signature mastic-infused Arabic gelato.

Idrees had last savoured it 15 years earlier, before the Syrian civil war made him a refugee.

“I swear to God, it tastes different now,” he said after eating a spoonful. “It was good before, but it’s changed because now we are happy inside.”

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For more than 100 years and through many wars, Bakdash has served up an Arabic-style of ice cream that is infused with Sahlab, a flour made from orchid roots and pounded by hand with metre-long mallets until it takes on a soft, stretchy texture.

A generous heap costs just $1 per bowl, and is served coated in pistachios.

Bakdash is much-loved across Syria, but many Syrians have been unable to visit their capital city since former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad cracked down on pro-democracy protests in 2011, igniting a 13-year civil war that divided the country.

In the wake of Assad’s ouster following a lightning rebel advance, tens of thousands of Syrians have converged on Damascus from across the country and outside its borders.

You heard that from the president when he took, I think he made a statement and certainly took a question about this on Sunday.

On Monday, hundreds turned up at Bakdash, many of them fighters fresh from the battlefield who slung guns around their backs to tuck into the cool treat that sometimes got caught in long, unkempt beards.

Ahmed Aslaan, a 22-year-old combatant wearing green fatigues, said he had not seen Damascus in more than a decade and enjoying the ice cream was a perk of his newfound freedom.

“Thank God we achieved our goal. Now we can go around all of Syria in our own car,” he said between bites. “We were all stuck in a tiny area before, now we have space.”

Co-owner Samir Bakdash said reopening the day after Assad fell was his way to show his joy at the end of a government that oppressed Syrians for decades and forced him to pay bribes just to keep his shop open.

He insisted the signature recipe had not changed since his great-grandfather came up with it in the 1890s.

But even regular customers said something felt new.

“It tastes different – it’s delicious and has gotten even better,” said Eman Ghazal, a business student in her 20s who has been coming to Bakdash since she was a child.

“It’s not just the ice cream, it’s life in general. It’s as if the walls are smiling and the sun has finally come out.”