Restaurants Isfahan: Shahrzad Restaurant

A colorful and busy restaurant, the Shahrzad is over the beautiful Si-o-Seh bridge. I had the chicken with walnut sauce and burberry rice, it was sweet and sour and very good. The portions were very generous and one portion could easily have fed three people. As appetizers we ordered salad and olives. The salad was the same lettuce, tomato and cucumber in cling wrap accompanied by salad cream that we were given in every restaurant in Iran. There must be a factory somewhere which manufactures them. The olives on the other hand were very unique. On seeing them, our friend said they looked "recycled". And indeed they did look like they had passed through someone's digestive tract before arriving at our table. I was too squeamish to try any but the others did and said they tasted as if they had been covered in hoisin sauce.

Isfahan Restaurants: Traditional Sofreh Khaneh

a.k.a Traditional Banquet Hall, a.k.a Restaurant this way upstairs is a popular restaurant just off Imam Square.  It opens for lunch at 12:30 and there was a line up to get in when we arrived at 12:27.  The restaurant is spacious with lots of room inside and outside (on a terrace) so getting a table was no problem.  The restaurant is decorated with frescoes, mirrored ceilings and stained glass windows. Instead of tables people are seated on raised platforms.  

The menu selection is limited but all of the dishes we tried were very good.  I especially liked the Obergon Stew - puree of aubergine with cream and spices.  We also liked the Dizi, a.k.a. Deeze, a.k.a Dizee although we never discovered the proper way of eating this dish.  Dizi is a chickpea and meat stew that comes in a flaming hotpot and is accompanied by one metal bowl, one spoon, one metal pestle and one piece of bread.  Our observation of Iranians that ordered this dish yielded no results.  The waiter with his back turned towards us, arms flailing performed the magical task of turning the ingredients into a finished meal for them.  When we asked the waiter to do the same for us he looked upset and started calling for his boss.  Other diners were starting to stare so we excused the waiter.  We used all of the implements in all of the different ways we could think of.  The result was delicious if probably not very authentic.