Café Gol-e Rezaieh: a haven of homemade favourites

Outside Cafe Gol in 30-e Tir Street, Tehran

When expatriate folks talk about Iranian restaurant fare, the term ubiquitous kebabs is often on the tip of most tongues.

Although – admittedly – kebabs, which are considered to be the food of hospitality in Iran, are to be found everywhere, there is much more on offer in restaurants. You just have to go and look for it. Or, if you are of a more sedentary disposition, encourage your Iranian friends to invite you out for lunch. 

And that is how I came to find out about the Café Gol-e Rezaieh.

A good friend insisted that he take both my daughter Sarah and me for lunch to taste the delights of this traditional yet trendy restaurant. Dispensing with the delicacies of traditional ta’arof, we accepted the offer without hesitation.

Located on 30- e Tir Street in downtown Tehran, and just across the road from the famous Glass Museum, Café Gol is unassumingly sandwiched between small shops on this old yet charming street.

The charming interior of Cafe Gol

In the years leading up to the Revolution, this part of town was considered to be the city’s northern limits. Further north, today’s Tajrish was a town unto itself and anything north of 30-e Tir Street was stretches of land dotted with villas and trees. With the rapid growth of modern Tehran, Café Gol is now definitely downtown, a place teeming with old charm and dated, yet refined buildings.

Nestled in the chic and hipster vibe of the downtown metropolis, and tucked between large concrete offices and somewhat nondescript shops, Café Gol is concealed behind navy velvet curtains, which are always drawn. The café is a warm refuge from the honking horns and the coughing exhaust pipes of the bustling city.

Fresh walnuts and cheese

Inside you will find a rich blend of nostalgic café culture from the past and the needs of modern diners. The walls are covered in posters and photographs of film and music stars from earlier days, resplendent in their youthful glory.  With subtle sounds of modern music, burning incense and a large flag of Bob Marley wishing you One Love, hungry patrons are enticed to whet their appetite by sampling sabzi, yogurt, cheese and fresh walnuts while they mull over the menu and catch up with the latest news with family and friends.

The menu offers a delight of homemade favourites ranging from soups, salads and borscht to traditional Iranian stews, baked chicken, shashlik, steaks, seasonal fish and my choice – Kotlet – the Iranian cutlet. Having tasted Iranian cutlets in a number of homes and restaurants, it would be fair to say that Café Gol’s are the best in town.

I certainly feasted with my eyes when the plate of sumptuous cutlets presented with delectable fresh salads was put in front of me. It all looked too good to eat! But, I soon got over that and delved in to the juicy cutlets smothered in a freshly made tomato sauce.

Much of Iran’s culinary influence is a mélange of foreign as well as indigenous. Indeed, the cutlet’s origins lean towards Russia, where the Kotleta are similar pure ground beef patties mixed with onion, potato, egg and spices, coated in bread crumbs and fried until just right.

Iranian Cutlets

Iranian cutlets are easy to make and taste tremendous with roasted potatoes and salad for a meal, or packed up for snacking at picnics.  The recipe is at the end of the blog.

One word to the wise, however, is that Café Gol is very popular with art-loving locals, so I suggest you arrive early enough to get a table or you may have to wait outside for a little while. Tehranis treat this as par for the course and the waiters often pop outside to take the orders in advance.  Diners are then quite happy to come in from the cold for a delicious warm meal.

Iranian Cutlets

What You Need:

500 grams lean ground beef

Advieh Iranian Spice

500 grams of potatoes

1 medium sized onion

2 eggs

2 garlic cloves

Advieh Shami or Persian Spice, which usually includes a mix of saffron, sesame, cinnamon, coriander and cardamom

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Ground chili powder

Turmeric

Bread crumbs

Vegetable oil

What to do:

Cook the potatoes in their skins until a fork can go through them with ease. When cool enough to hold, peel the skins of the potatoes and then mash them. Then grate the onion and garlic into a large bowl and mix together with the potatoes.

Mix in the ground beef and all the spices until thoroughly mixed together.

Form into balls with your hands and then flatten until you have a tear like shape. Cover in breadcrumbs and fry gently on both sides in vegetable oil until the patties are cooked thoroughly and slightly crispy on the outside.

Serve with home made tomato sauce, fried potatoes and a salad.

Eat Different, Think Different – at Burgerland!

Burgerland on Andarzgoo Boulevard in Tehran

Who would have thought that some of the best beef burgers are to be found in Tehran?

Our trek into the world of fast food in this fair city would lead us to a place called Burgerland.

Burgerland is a zippy little restaurant located at 62 Andarzgoo Boulevard in Farmanieh, which lies in the northern part of Tehran.  You can’t really miss it, as it is set right on the main street with a huge sign adorned with a neon burger, fries and a drink which flash at you from the outside wall.

The brightly-lit exterior does rather remind me of the fairground attractions from my youth in Scotland.  But the effect is successful and we are drawn in for a fun food ride of juicy burgers and chips.

Gary enjoying one of his Juicy Burgers

The journey starts with the large group of friendly gentlemen behind the counter just waiting to take your order.  And, ordering is not difficult, even if you don’t speak Farsi.  The menu is bi-lingual and, as Gary found out after valiantly requesting – in Farsi – four Juicy Burgers (two for himself), fries and drinks, so is all the staff. 

So what is on offer, you ask with your mouth watering?  Well, it’s quite simple.  There are six different types of burger: the Land Burger, the Smokey Burger, the Double Burger, the Juicy Burger, the Aioli Burger, the Chicken Burger and not forgetting the Special Fries.

All of the ingredients are fresh, juicy and tasty.  And if you are worried about what the meat might be made of, fear not, it is 100% pure beef (well maybe the chicken is 100% chicken) and tastes delicious.  The burger buns are soft and just the right size.  The fries really are special: coated in a spicy flavouring and dribbled with Thousand Island Dressing and a smattering of Parmesan cheese on top.

The Special Fries

It is worth noting that Iranian fast food doesn’t mean having your food slapped down in front of you on a tray in record time.  You do have to sit and chat with your friends for a little while, but the Burgerland burger is worth the wait.

But there is more to the restaurant than friendly faces and fabulous fast food.  Sitting in the diner-style restaurant we were very much reminded of another world far away.   With foot-tapping modern music surrounding us, we could while away our time reading the graphic designs on the wall – all written in English.

Even more entertaining perhaps are the three quirky photographs on the walls of the restaurant owners.  For Burgerland is the brainchild of the three members of the popular underground group known as Barobax. 

I’d give your recipes if I could, but I can’t.  You will just have to come to Tehran and do what Burgerland urges you to do – Eat Different, Think Different!

Feed Your Friends Fake Fesenjun!

There are times when you just have to go with the flow.

We hosted a large dinner party in our house this week to bid farewell to a United Nations colleague.  And, although the food was grown, bought and cooked in Iran, it was, admittedly, not an Iranian menu. 

Fake Fesenjun

But these are mere details.  Given that we were hosting both Iranian and foreign guests, I opted for a fusion menu of recipes from our various travels over this fair and fabulous planet.

One of my “go-to” chicken dishes is a Creole Caribbean chicken recipe from the entertaining food writer Kenneth Gardnier, originally from the lush tropical island of Dominica.  It is one of those recipes that you can adapt to any geographical location and local ingredients.  It always goes down well at dinner parties.

So, when I invited our guests to eat the other night, I was somewhat surprised at hearing a general mumbling amongst the Iranian crowd that there was Fesenjun (see my blog from 8^th April) on the table.

Indeed, one of the more intriguing conversations was with a guest whose identity will remain anonymous.

It went something like this:

Anonymous Guest:  Oh, so you have made Fesenjun.  That's nice.

Liz:                         Well, no, sorry, it isn't actually Fesenjun.

Anonymous Guest:  But it looks like Fesenjun.

Liz:                         Really?  But it's not as dark as Fesenjun.

Anonymous Guest:  It's almost as dark as Fesenjun.

Liz:                        Actually, it's chicken baked in a Caribbean Creole sauce.  The recipe is from Dominica.  That's an island about 170km northwest of where Gary comes from in Barbados.

Brief dramatic pause

Anonymous Guest:  Ah!  So, it’s “fake” Fesenjun then?

As I stood on the brink, I decided that this was a battle I was clearly not going to win and go with the flow I went.  Within minutes, Fake Fesenjun entered the annals of fusion food and was heartily consumed. 

The recipe for it is at the end of this blog.

Along with another recipe for a dish that always goes far at BBQs and large gatherings.  A standard in my dinner party repertoire, Curried Pasta Salad from South Africa is always very popular. 

Well, at least with some!

South African Curried Pasta Salad

I would have to confess that eating pasta cold in any form is not my cup of tea.  In fact, if pressed, I would have to be chained to a fence and force-fed the stuff through a straw.  But, some people do like it.  I even have vegan acquaintances who will eat it.  I do make my own mango chutney, which I add in copious quantities to give the pasta salad a bit more zing!

So, what are you waiting for?  Get into the kitchen and rattle those pots and pans and cook up some fake fusion food for your friends.

Nushijan!

Fake Fesenjun

What you need:

4 to 6 pieces of chicken

Juice of 1 lime or lemon

2 garlic cloves

1 teaspoon of sea salt

2 teaspoons of hot pepper sauce (West Indian sauce if you can get it)

150ml (approx.) of chicken stock

1 onion

1 tablespoon soya sauce

1 teaspoon curry powder

3 tablespoons dark rum (Barbados rum if you can get it)

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 teaspoon thyme

1 small piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated

2 tablespoons olive oil

What to do:

Put everything in a blender or food processor and blend until you have a smooth sauce with no lumpy bits.  Marinade the chicken pieces and leave in the fridge for at least 6 hours or overnight if you can.  Turn the pieces regularly in the marinade.

To cook you can either BBQ it or put the whole lot in a baking pan and roast in a pre-heated oven at 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6 for 1 to 1 ½ hours and turn the chicken at regular intervals.

South African Curried Pasta Salad

What you need:

500 grams pasta (macaroni, penne)

100g seedless raisons or sultanas

1 x 410 g can of peach slices, drained and chopped

1 x 410 g can pineapple chunks, drained

1 onion, finely chopped

1 green sweet pepper, seeded and chopped

1 red sweet pepper, seeded and chopped

Dressing

250 ml (1 cup) mayonnaise

15 ml (1 tablespoon curry powder)

60 ml (1/4 cup) chutney

The dressing measurements are basic ones. I always add more mayonnaise and chutney.

What to do:

Cook the pasta until al dente, drain in a large colander and cool under running water. Drain really well and put in a large bowl.

While the pasta is cooking, prepare the vegetables and fruit.  Add to the cooked pasta and mix well.

Mix the ingredients for the dressing with a whisk, and then mix with the pasta and veggies.  Stir it around until everything is covered in the dressing. Chill in the fridge until ready to serve.