After two years of thorough research, which included focus group testing, Curli Q, is ready to welcome guests with the grand opening that took place on October 1 at its shop in Beirut located on Sourati Street, Khawli building, in Hamra.
A first of its kind concept, a new wave of cakes is touching down in Beirut this fall. We catch up with founder Maya Bekhazi Noun, creator of success stories, most recently Spin The Hen and Shoots salad bar in Abu Dhabi, to tell us more about her 17th concept to date, Curli Q, specialty cake shop and café.
Curli Q gets its name from its spiral offerings. The concept, inspired by Bekhazi’s travels, is based on spit cakes, where cakes are baked on spits, pointed rotating bars on which multiple layers of dough are rolled over each other and baked evenly, one at a time.
Bekhazi explains that the advantage of spit baking is that it allows the dough to preserve its moisture as opposed to traditional cake baking that exposes exterior layers to more heat, drying out the dough from the outside, while only preserving the dough’s interior moisture. With spit cakes, dough freshness and flavor are preserved as each layer is evenly baked, a factor that is missing in traditional cake baking.
Spit creations at Curli Q are available in many shapes and flavors. Some dough rolls are kept plain smooth, some given ruffled surfaces and others decorated. The diameter of the spit and the number of dough rolls determine the thickness of the dessert, where some range from chubby small bites to larger pieces and whole cakes.
But Curli Q is not only about sweets. The shop boasts a breakfast menu where one can find Curli style eggs, zaatar or cinnamon rolls and a selection of homemade breads and croissants to start the day. A lunch menu includes fresh salads and homemade, either soft bread or toasted, sandwiches, as well as onion and Mediterranean vegetable quiches, all served with side salads or hand-cut potato crisps. Hot and cold drinks are served along with fresh juices including detox and energizing juices, which are boosted with nowadays-popular healthy ingredients, like turmeric, ginger, spinach and pomegranate.
The design of the store fits perfectly with the concept. Hollow tubes, resembling spits, cover the ceiling and tubular glass containers house fresh pastries for the shop’s window display.
Even though the shop is expected to prove a hit with orders for special occasions or with walking pedestrians that want to enjoy a treat on the go, the cafe interior is a warm setting with cozy tables and a bar with high comfy stools that overlook a presentation area of all spit creations. To provide consistent fast service to it’s customers, Bekhazi shares that a special oven was created specially for Curli Q, where it can hold up to 3 spits at the same time, rotating in a synchronized manner.