Bakdash, the most celebrated ice-cream parlor in the Middle East, is a hundred-and-thirty-eight-year-old shop located in the al-Hamidiyah Souk, an Ottoman-era marketplace in Damascus's Old City. Men in butcher caps, white gloves, and coats staff the long, narrow space, serving customers who over the decades have included King Faisal, of Iraq; Tony Blair; and Lawrence of Arabia. [more...]