Behesht

Time Out says

Tue Jun 12 2012

Top-notch Iranian food is not the only thing going for Behesht, which is also a walk-through gallery in the Persian storytelling tradition. Its maze-like warren of rooms features sculpted wooden walls and ceilings lined with weathered Iranian carpets; there are shelves laden with decorative daf drums and hand-beaten copper pots, cabinets filled with dolls and ram skulls and old Persian pipes; the babble of fountains is punctuated by the occasional squawk of the house parrot.

We started our meal with a generous portion of smoky mirza ghasemi (mashed aubergine with garlic, eggs and tomato) and ash-e reshteh (a rich winter soup thickened with beans and noodles and topped with whey). A main of baghali polo ba mahicheh was flawless: a mountain of rice spiked with dill and broad beans and served with a tomato and saffron-marinated lamb shank. Ghorm-e sabzi (lamb stew with greens, kidney beans and dried limes) was the best example we’ve tasted outside of an Iranian home. Save room for falooda (frozen rosewater and starch noodles) or pistachio-studded bastani ice-cream. If there’s a restaurant serving more authentic Iranian cuisine in the capital, we’ve yet to find it.