Desserts

Uyghur desserts are the quiet end of a loud meal. Baklava comes in pistachio, cherry and bird's nest — layered, honeyed and cut small, because after polo and kebabs nobody needs a large dessert, only a correct one. Honey cake stacks thin layers with cream the way Central Asian bakeries have always done it.

Pair any of these with the tea you already have on the table; the bitterness of black tea against honeyed pastry is the whole point. Desserts here are also the easiest introduction to the cuisine for first-timers — if you came in only for something sweet with tea, that is a completely legitimate way to start.

Baklava needs no translation: Turkish, Greek, Armenian and Levantine tables each claim a version, and Dolan's serves the Uyghur one. The homemade yogurt is closer to what a Chinese menu lists as lao suannai — thick, barely sweet, served cold — and to the ayran family drunk across Central Asia.