Ottawa Foodies

i am a huge fan of persian food, so i was very interested in trying this place. my basis of comparision is the wonderful byblos in montreal and it turns out nothing in ottawa can compare.

i had the vegetarian soup, which was hearty and very filling. the yogurt in it was a goat's milk yogurt and gave the soup a very goaty taste. i love goat's milk, but i found it overpowered the other flavours in the soup. i am not a fan of chive infused oil and tried to avoid taking too much of it in a bite of soup because it killed all other flavours (except the goat, i suppose).

my husband had the chicken skewer, which came with rice and a roasted tomato. the rice had a saffron sauce on it, but needed a lot more kick. it came with raw onion and parsley on the side. there was a shaker of what i think was paprika, so he sprinkled that on. the meat dishes range in price from $13-$17, which is actually really high for a small mom-and-pop place. especially considering the main portion of your plate is plain, white rice.

we had the tea (though not mint tea, just regular, was not offered mint or didn't see any option for that).

i won't hurry back because the only veg option was the soup. i will continue looking for more persian/iranian options in town to save myself the drive to montreal.

one thing to note, the owners are really lovely and took great care of us. if they expanded their menu to offer some more side dishes, dips, or vegetarian offerings, i would go back, but until then it is unlikely.

I was here and ordered the spiced minced beef skewer with grilled tomato. I believe it came with pita. (Barg, I think it's called.) A cute little old couple run it and the wife was making up the skewers fresh as I waited. Really tasty.

The decor- well a used car sales office says it all. The kind owners make up for the lack of ambiance. On the bright side, there is an ample parking lot.

Love it!

Ok, the decor is used car sales lot backroom (literally), and you can bone up on your Farsi thanks to the satellite tv in the corner... but for home-cooked real food, this is 5 star.

Had the vegetarian soup, which I could have sworn had a lamb stock base to it (they promised it didn't) because of its creamy depth. Lentils, chickpeas, chopped noodles, green herbs, with chive-infused oil and yoghurt drizzled on top. A meal for around $5.

Make sure to have a cup of hot, sweet mint tea, served up in a glass. Ohhh... I think I need a fix now!