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| The Persian Pop Up menu in a thali format |
So do you guys have a favorite restaurant?
We all have favorites be it one thing or the other. Favorite
food is pretty common but how many of you actually love visiting a particular
restaurant?
Do let us know in the comments below, but now let us tell
you about one of ours!
The best part is we were recently invited for a unique food
festival and as expected we had an amazing time.
So many restaurants organizing so many food festivals and
yet this one is unique. So, this post is all about one of our favorite
restaurants: SodaBottleOpenerWala & the ongoing Persian Food Festival.
The festival goes by the name “Persian Pop-Up” and the
festival menu is co-created by Anaida Parvaneh & the chefs of SBOW. Anaida,
a famed singer who has her roots in Persia, specially curated this menu to
showcase the rich, traditional Persian Cuisine using ingredients from Iran.
There are a lot of items involved and since we visited
separately and not in a group, we tried portions of some of these items in the
form of a Thali.
People of Persia indulge mostly in non-vegetarian food so,
if you are a vegetarian: not many options for you.
Most of the items were lamb preparations and thinking of
lamb, people generally get the idea that the food is heavy but in this case
even after a full meal we didn’t feel uneasy at all. The preparations are very
light, flavorful and gives a sense of satisfaction.
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| Anaida's Jadooei Soup |
In the thali we tried the Bagali Pulao, which is rice cooked
with mutton keema, Chicken Jujeh Kebab, Mutton Haleem, Cucumber and Dried Mint
Dip, Mutton Fesanjan & a Lamb Shanks prep with chickpeas. We also tried Anaida’s
Jadooei Soup.
The soup was heavenly! It had a homely touch to it & had
loads of chicken, mushrooms & veggies. The broth tasted so good that we
could literally survive on that.
From the thali, we loved almost everything! The aroma &
taste boasted of fresh ingredients. The Mutton Fesanjan is a mutton preparation
made with pomegranate molasses. It is pungent in nature and sort of an acquired
taste. It had a tangy tasty to it and many might not like it the first time.
The same goes for the lamb shanks preparation which was sour. It was soupy
& flavorful with perfectly cooked meat but the taste was a bit harsh up
front.
The only chicken preparation in this meaty arsenal is the Jujeh
Kebab. It’s a very simple kebab which brings out the natural flavors of
chicken. It was char grilled to perfection. The Haleem is a must try. It is
served with a pav and is the best dish of the lot! The richness of the mutton
& ghee, the aroma and sweetness of the caramelized onions stood out.
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| Haleem |
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| Dessert |
The cucumber and dried mint dip had the characteristic
flavors. The special thing about it was the inclusion of dried rose petals from
Iran which gave it a longing aroma. The Bagala Pulao summarized would be: Keema
in each bite. The cooked rice retained all the flavors and that’s all
we need ;)
Lastly, for dessert we tried the Halwa and Shole Zard. They
were rich and delicious but kind of overshadowed by the above!
That’s our short & sweet experience of this delicious
festival.
This is on till the 16th of August, so still some
time before you miss out!
We’ll be back soon with great news.
Till then—keep stuffing your faces & be happy because
you live only once!
- 23:33
- 4 Comments
