Flamingo Pastanesi

About Flamingo Pastanesi

Flamingo Pastanesi is one of the long-running family patisseries of central Ankara, on Selanik Caddesi just off Kızılay square. According to the business, Ali Kuluhan began making pastries in 1950, and his children now run the shop and carry on his approach of pairing traditional patisserie with a more modern menu. Researchers who have studied Ankara's pastry-shop culture describe how, as the city's centre moved from Ulus to Kızılay, a cluster of patisseries opened around the new centre, many of them by Hemşinli families, and name Flamingo as one of the few from that generation still trading today. A Bilkent University student guide to the city's rooted patisseries notes the cheerful room with its signature pink flamingos on the walls. The counter covers individual cakes, sweet and savoury biscuits, milk puddings and börek, alongside chestnut maron deguise, madlen chocolates and almond and pistachio pastes. There is also a kitchen menu, so the shop works for breakfast, a light lunch or simply tea and cake. Flamingo is known for gluten-free baking: it says it has more than a decade of experience with gluten-free products, keeps sweet and savoury gluten-free items every day, ships them across Turkey and holds a gluten-free product day on the last Saturday of each month. The Kızılay shop opens early, from 07:00 every day, closing at 21:00 on weekdays and 20:00 at weekends, which makes it an easy stop before a day of sightseeing in the city centre.