Pars – Maida Vale

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Pars is very deceiving when you see it from the outside as it looks just like a takeaway shop. Step inside though and you are transformed into a colourful Persian restaurant! The quirky environment sets the scene for sampling lots of Persian food delights!

The ceiling is draped with colourful fabrics, the tiled walls are decorated with artifacts and the cushioned seats are covered with patterned cloth.

The mint tea was served by the pot and served in cute little red glasses. Tea is always a good way to start and end a meal! There was so much choice on the menu and it was difficult to pick which items we should sample.

On this occasion, we started off with some classic houmous and fresh warm Persian bread. I was very impressed with the seeded thin Persian bread; it was very moreish! The bread was cooked in the clay oven near the entrance of the restaurant!

The cold dishes that we had were the Panir-O-Sabzi, Tabbouleh and Dolme Barge-e Mo. The Panir-O-Sabzi was a salad made of whole mint leaves, spring onions, radish, tarragon and Persian cheese. It looked like a whole bunch of vegetables were just presented on a plate, as none of them were chopped up! The Tabbouleh, made from chopped parsley, tomatoes and crushed wheat, was quite sour due to the lemon juice. I also found that the Dolme Barge-e Mo, the steamed stuffed vine leaves were quite tangy. They were stuffed with rice and herbs.

I preferred the hot dishes that we had! The Adas was a great bowl of well cooked lentils. They were really tasty and there was plenty in one bowl to share. Another dish that won me over was the Kashk-e-Bademjan. This was aubergines which were stewed with onion, garlic and spices. All of these dishes went well with the Persian bread!

Pars is a surprising restaurant with friendly staff. It has a really nice relaxed atmosphere and the decor of the place contributes to its authenticity! A great Persian restaurant that must be a hit with the locals but also with anyone else who has stumbled across it!

Pars, 370 Harrow Road, Maida Vale, London, W9 2HU

Rating: ★★★★½
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3 Comments Add yours

  1. Lee says:

    Hi Suzy, thank you for your lovely feedback on the website design. The design is based on an existing theme, with custom coding and various other design tweaks done by myself – http://www.supportblog.co.uk 😉

  2. Suzy Tripodi says:

    Just thought i would comment and say neat design, did you code it yourself? Looks great.

  3. Laissez Fare says:

    Hi there,

    I’m glad you had a nice meal at Pars.

    We are quite loyal fans of Iranian food – and cook it a lot too – so we were excited to stumble upon Pars when we first moved into the general vicinity a while back.

    We had a pretty shocking meal, though (not in the good way), so vowed never to return. The benchmark dishes of any Persian restaurant were just way below standard.

    Hopefully this means things have improved in the last 2-3 years.

    Best regards,

    LF

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