One of my favorite shops in Yerevan was the Meghu store. I discovered it many years ago – a concept I had never seen or heard of before or since. It was on Sayat Nova Street and a few steps down from street level. You’d walk in and there was a wall of honey jars of various sizes, all full of thick honey in varying shades of gold, some clear, some crystal white.
There were many to choose from, and it would of course be impossible to choose from them if you couldn’t taste them. But you could. They’d pop a toothpick into any honey you’d like to try. Well then you’d realize that tasting doesn’t help all that much, since they’re all so incredibly good, and each is quite different from the next. You could really taste the specific flower nectar types that featured prominently from one honey to the next. It was nothing like the honey you’d get at the supermarket in America. I had no idea it could be so good.
I was really disappointed when I one day I passed by and saw they had closed shop. For a few years I told people about that store I had loved, and even dreamed of recreating a shop like it. It’s a good thing I didn’t though, since last fall I rediscovered it, where it had moved so long ago. Next door to the SAS Supermarket by the Kievyan Bridge. I went in and tried the most incredible honey from Kelbajar and picked up a jar. It was the highlight of my morning to have a spoonful of this with my morning tea. I went back for some more today, but they are out of it and can’t get resupplied until late spring. It was a disappointment, but somehow I will console myself with some really heavenly honey from Martakert, and then some from Talin!
