Showing posts with label persian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label persian. Show all posts

Darvish Restaurant (Toronto)

Posted on Sunday, October 22, 2017 by

For some people, their first impression of a restaurant is how it looks, whether it’s the establishment’s store front or an initial glimpse of the dining room. For me, a more important impression is how the place smells, the sense that intrigues my nose about things to come. Upon entering Darvish, it was the first thing that struck me – all the spices melding together with a faint smoky meat scent. Sure, their colourful tablecloths were nice, but that’s secondary.

Most of the heavenly aromas must come from Darvish’s stews. When our aubergine stew or bheymeh bademjoon ($16.99) was set on the table, it certainly made me inhale deeply, a calm yoga breath. You really can’t go wrong with a hearty dish spooned over the basmati rice, where the tomato sauce has a hint of citrus thanks to dried lime, which keeps it light while the split peas helps to thicken the sauce. The meat wasn’t immensely tender for veal, but good enough. I only wished there was more eggplant (especially since the stew was named after it), as the vegetable absorbed many flavours and I wish there was more than one piece.  


Make sure to choose the saffron barberry rice if you’re getting a kabob as despite looking regular basmati topped with cranberries, it's certainly more flavourful thanks to being cooked in saffron liquid. You’ll need the extra spice as the kabobs aren’t overly strong; tasty enough on their own but slightly plain without a flavoured grain.

We sampled a mixed kabob plate containing a skewer of koobideh and lamb ($18.99), I was pleasantly surprised by how moist the koobideh (a spiced minced meat) was as I find at most places it’s rendered into an overcooked hamburger. The lamb was tender and with a bit of the onion and parsley mixture helped augment its flavours and ensure there was no gaminess.


All in all, Darvish provides satisfying Persian comfort food. As much as they say ‘you eat with your eyes’, for me, I’m certainly eating with my nose as well. 

Overall mark - 7.5 out of 10
How To Find Them
 Location: Toronto, Canada
 Address: 508 Yonge Street

 Follow me on twitter to chat, be notified about new posts and more - https://twitter.com/GastroWorldBlog
____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System
  • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
  • 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
  • 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
  • 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
  • 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
  • 10 - absolute perfection!

Is That It? I Want More!

Other Gastro World posts similar to this:

Darvish Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Pomegranate (Toronto)

Posted on Saturday, January 21, 2017 by

I was introduced to Pomegranate after meeting a Persian women dining by herself at a restaurant. Normally, I would never intrude on someone’s quiet time, but the tables were close together and she noticed me snapping photos of my food. Always in search of good authentic restaurants, I enquired about delicious Persian restaurants within Toronto. Pomegranate, she noted, was a small place, but the food is great and one of her favourite restaurants to visit.

The colourful tapestry adorning the wall instantly put me in a cheerful mood. Despite visiting as soon as the restaurant opened, light aromas of spices were already wafting throughout the dining area, a promise of the flavours to come. The women didn’t lie, it’s a small restaurant with perhaps a dozen tables, so consider making a reservation - even with our weeknight visit, we secured one of the last unreserved tables.

While waiting for our mains, we shared an order of the kashke-e bademjaan ($7.95), which wasn’t big, but rich enough to satisfy our table of four with a couple tablespoons each. A bed of soft charred eggplant is topped with Persian whey, garlic, walnuts and caramelized onions. The starter comes with a basket of hot lightly toasted soft pita bread that’s perfect for scooping up a bit of everything to get all the flavours and crunch. The whey had a light creamy consistency and when mixed with the garlic almost had a tahini feel to it.


I’m always partial of lamb dishes when visiting a Persian, Indian or Greek restaurant. Hence, immediately the queymeh ($15.50) called to me. The hearty stew is great for spooning over the basmati rice where the tomato saffron sauce could mix with the long grains of rice - oh if only I had saved some of the pita bread to dip into the stew as well!


The dish had a surprisingly sour finish due to the sun-dried lime added to the braised lamb and yellow split peas. It took a couple of forkfuls to get used to it, but afterwards I rather like the citrusy finish that helped mellow out the otherwise heavier stew. Yet, I wished all the sides accompanying it wasn’t also sour:  the shirazi salad was finely diced vegetables tossed with citrus; even the mixed greens had a vinegar and oil dressing. Anything, even a reduced balsamic vinaigrette with the mixed green, would have helped to provide contrast within the platter.

To end, a cup of the Persian chai ($2). The black tea isn’t as strong as its Indian counterpart, lacking the lovely cardamom scent (it just smelt like orange pekoe) and the spices steeped with the tea is evident but muted. If you prefer a weaker tea, the Persian chai may be a good choice. For me, I’d just stick with the tried and true mint version next time.

City dwellers are often guarded and like to exist within their own bubbles. Admittedly, I’m no different, not one to strike up conversations with a stranger. Sometimes, it’s nice to break through our comfort zone and get to know someone. Sure, we may never see them again, but what we learn from them could be interesting, useful, and delicious.

 Overall mark - 7.5 out of 10
How To Find Them
 Location: Toronto, Canada
 Address: 420 College Street

 Follow me on twitter to chat, be notified about new posts and more - https://twitter.com/GastroWorldBlog
____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System
  • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
  • 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
  • 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
  • 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
  • 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
  • 10 - absolute perfection!

Is That It? I Want More!

Other Gastro World posts similar to this:

The Pomegranate Restaurant Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Shomal (North) Restaurant (Toronto)

Posted on Sunday, October 21, 2012 by
ocation: Toronto, Canada
Address: 100 Steeles Avenue West, Unit 27
Website: http://www.northrestaurant.com/
Type of Meal: Dinner

You'll be pleasantly surprised when you walk into North with its large space and delightful decor. It feels like you've walked into the middle of an outdoor courtyard in Iran and are dining with the village.

A co-worker recommended this restaurant for good traditional Persian food, so a group of friends and I decided to try it. Ordering "family style" is definitely recommended as the portion sizes are large and dishes are flavourful so you will likely want to try a number of items to get a mix of flavours. We ended up getting four dishes for five people and this was more than enough.

Our first dish was an appetizer called Mirzaghasemi ($10). Warning: do not order this dish if you're on a date or plan to be close to anyone after dinner as it’s filled with garlic! Chunks of roasted garlic are incorporate with roasted eggplant and scrambled eggs to form a warm, thick, delicious spread. I loved the freshly toasted flat bread that accompanies the dish - the thick garlicky spread on ultra-thin, chewy, toasty bread was a great start.

 

Mirzaghasemi (1)


I was a bit disappointed with our mains after such a wonderful appetizer. Overall, everything had a citrus taste to it, so it was a bit repetitive and overpowering. But, if I had known a little Persian this could have been avoided, so hopefully this little lesson will help you in the future. "Torsh" means sour in Persian. Two of the dishes we ordered - Morghe Torsh and Torshi Tareh have the word in it, which should have indicated to us that the dishes are sour.

Half of North's menu is dedicated to kebab style dishes so we had to try the North Special Kebab ($30) which consisted of long skewers of beef tenderloin and chicken. The beef of course was very tender, but, unlike steak the meat is cooked thoroughly so there’s no pink left in it. The chicken was average and covered with a red spice that was slightly lemony. Although we couldn't see this being prepared, based on the menu, I believe it's broiled over charcoal. This left a powerful propane after taste to the meat that I didn't enjoy when eaten by itself. However, once some lemon juice, cilantro and raw onions were added to it, the gassy taste was masked and the kebabs were more enjoyable.
North Special kebab (1)

Morghe Torsh ($14) is a chicken stew with different herbs. It's much waterier than North American stews and resembles a sour lentil soup with a large hunk of chicken breast. The chicken itself was tasteless as it seemed it was just boiled, so may have been better if North chose to use bone-in dark meat instead. The broth of the stew tasted good and went well with the rice.
Morghe torsh (1)


Our last dish was Torshi Tareh ($13) a vegetarian dish consisting of broken down leafy greens (could be spinach?), herbs, what seems to be the juice of two lemons and scrambled eggs. When the dish was first served, it looks similar to the Indian spinach paneer. But, they taste nothing alike. The thick vegetable sauce was extremely tart and very strong. My least favourite and definitely will not order again.

Torshi tareh (1)

Despite the restaurant being very busy, our food arrived quickly. However, the service afterwards was very slow. The employees themselves were friendly; just not very attentive and somewhat forgetful. After all the rich flavours we really needed water. Unfortunately, we had to ask three individuals before someone finally brought us water. Additionally, when inquiring a staff member about dessert options, we were advised there is no menu but there are two items. She quickly listed them off, in Persian, offered no description and left. Given we had no idea what these were; we decided to avoid ordering dessert and just leave.


Overall mark - 6.5 out of 10

I given the restaurant a 6.5 as I normally wouldn't want to return to this restaurant based on the meal above. But, if we had ordered a better selection of flavours it'd likely be more enjoyable. So, I'll likely go back to give it one more try - this time hopefully with more help from the waitress/waiters to avoid another "torsh" experience.


____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System
  • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
  • 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
  • 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
  • 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
  • 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
  • 10 - absolute perfection!
For further general discussions about this blog please refer to http://gastroworldblog.blogspot.com/2012/09/welcome-to-gastro-world.html
Photo Sources:
  1. All photos courtesy of Shomal (North's) menu - http://www.northrestaurant.com/

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