Family-run Persian bakery and shop opens doors in McLean

McLean has a new hot spot for Middle Eastern tea, cookies and honey.

Sayyareh Parsa and her brother opened Parsa Bakery less than a month ago, but the Persian shop is already starting to attract buzz, primarily through word-of-mouth on the social media app Nextdoor.

“We haven’t done a lot of advertisement yet, but a lot of people know us through Nextdoor,” Parsa said when FFXnow visited on Saturday (March 26). “We have a lot of clients who posted and commented on Nextdoor. It’s picking up little by little.”

Parsa Bakery is located in the Salona Village Shopping Center, taking over the space at 1349 Chain Bridge Road previously filled by Bebe Gol Market, which was also Middle Eastern-focused.

Parsa worked in banking before deciding to pursue her dream of baking and starting her own shop. With their parents’ assistance, she and her brother took over the former Bebe Gol site about a month and a half ago.

Fairfax County issued a non-residential use permit for the business on Feb. 8.

Opened in early March, the store offers a variety of baked goods and shelved products, including spices, rosewater, and Turkish delight.

The fresh pastries are currently made by a hired baker and distributor, but the Parsas hope to eventually do their own baking in the store’s basement. They also plan to operate a small cafe in the main store, where customers will be able to enjoy food and coffee.

All of the ingredients used in the pastries and the future menu of food will be sold in the store.

“So if there’s a dish that they really like, we’ll sell the ingredients,” Parsa said. “If they’d like to try it at home, that would be good too.”