The Ealing branch of this three-strong Iranian restaurant group majors in home-style cooking, and has a local following who enjoy the easy-on-the-pocket Middle Eastern food. Furnished with rustic-looking fittings and memorabilia from yesteryear, the domed clay bread oven, ceramic tiles and colourful tableaux add to the nostalgic flavour.
Expect simple meze, herby stews, smoky kebabs and fragrant rice dishes. Of the meze, kashk e bademjan (roasted crushed aubergine folded with crisp fried onions) impressed us with its caramel-like smokiness and creamy yogurt topping. Main courses were robust and generously proportioned. Khoresht ghormeh sabzi was a warming stew of browned lamb chunks and kidney beans, simmered in a thick sauce of softened onions and mixed greens (mainly fenugreek and parsley), and cut through with the acidity of whole, dried lemons. It’s a tasty dish, though the flavours were pungent.
A joojeh kebab of skewered chicken-breast pieces, steeped in saffron and cooked over charcoal before being brushed with tart pomegranate molasses, was well matched with ruby-red, tangy barberries strewn over steamy rice – a classic combo from this region.
West London is lucky to have this small restaurant group, which also has branches in Acton and Richmond. They’re great neighbourhood restaurants, buoyed by welcoming service.
By Roopa Gulati