Shabestan

The restaurant was quite busy when we arrived and the tunes from the musicians got us into the mood. We were seated next to the window, which gave us a great view of the lit up dhows meandering on the water and the the sparkling skyline over the creek.

We were presented with a huge salad platter which had the freshest mint and soft cheese on it. Fresh baked flat bread, hummus and pickled vegetables accompanied. We ate too much of this so passed on a proper starter as we didn't want to fail on our main course!

I had an overriding urge for lamb. Our waitress guided me through the menu and eventually I opted for a lamb shank which had been slowly cooked for five hours, served with rice. My partner selected a fish skewer, which was simply grilled, it just fell apart, served with three flavours of rice. 

The portions were very generous and as we had over indulged earlier we were stuffed so for dessert we shared the faloodeh baslani which is a mix of ice cream and sorbet with home made rice noodles in it, they then poured rose water over it, that was a bit over powering but cleansed our palate.

To finish we had a traditional coffee and a lovely platter of sweets.

As this was my first experience of Persian food it was a good one, which I enjoyed, we were looked after very well. However, note to self, next time I go Persian I will remember portions are large!