Some friends and I tried out Persian Mawlana in Dickson, located on the main strip of restaurants along Woolley Street. I can see the similarities between Persian and Afghan food with thick flat bread and rice with carrots and berries. The hot starters on the menu looked good – ashak (fresh pasta filled with scallions, leeks and cilantro), mantoo (steamed beef, garlic and onion dumplings, and bolani (Afghan pizza) sounded tempting.
We decided to go with Banquet #1 which was $30 per person and had a good selection of items. Bread with hummus and carrot dip arrived at our table. The menu states all meals are served with nan bread and dips so the banquet hadn’t actually started yet. There were 6 pieces of bread or 2 pieces each for the three of us. The carrot dip was really nice and slightly sweet (I think better than the Turkish restaurants!)
First out was the salade rooz – a salad of carrots, tomato, cucumber, lettuce, olives and onion in balsamic vinegar. This is your basic fresh salad.
The qabuli palaw dish consisted of basmati rice with raisins, carrots and pieces of lamb hidden underneath. I found the lamb was beautifully tender, it had no marinade or sauces but tasted great on its own. The raisins and carrots gives a bit of sweetness to plain boring rice. Two small side bowls were also provided. The gourmeh sabzi is meant to have diced lamb, red kidney beans, spinach and dry lime. It had everything but the lamb in it. Considering it was a small bowl, maybe the restaurant staff missed the lamb when ladling into the bowl? Other than that, the dish was lovely and I enjoyed mixing it in with the rice. The other bowl of kofteh, meatballs in a tomato sauce, were hot, lean and delicious. Only complaint is there was only one meatball per person.
Next was the jujeh – marinated chicken in saffron and lemon juice. I like how the chicken is taken off the skewer when plated – makes it easier to eat! I thought the chicken was a little dry inside but I did like the coating on the outside. There was plenty of chicken for the three of us and we didn’t finish it all.
The kubideh kebab, marinated minced lamb skewers, was my favourite dish of the night. Lean mince with lots of flavour and herbs mixed throughout. I did notice quite a bit of oil on the plate after picking one of the kebabs up. But it was so tasty.
I ordered a yogurt drink called doogh ($3), having no idea what it would taste like. The waiter mentioned it had cucumber and salt in it. Didn’t sound like the most appealing drink but I wanted to know what it was like. It was served in a tall glass with dried herbs sprinkled on top. All I can say is that it was very salty. Think of sour yogurt with a helluva lot of salt in it. I managed to drink a quarter of this, more than the fellow diners at another table. I figured the drink was salty for a reason, probably to balance out some of the food, but it was just so overpowering. Definitely the most odd drink I’ve ever tasted and not one I’d likely order again.
Dessert is included in the banquet and we had our pick of their dessert items – jelabi or ice cream as they had no baklava that day. I decided on a mix of saffron ice cream and chocolate ice cream. Now how to describe saffron ice cream – my friends say it tastes like how pot pourri smells. Probably because there is a hint of rose water in it. It reminds me of something else…but I just can’t put my finger on it. It has this delicateness to it – feminine, light and sweet. It also had some bits of pistachio nuts mixed throughout. Not what I expected but I really liked it.
Overall, the banquet is good value for money. Staff are polite and it was interesting sampling some Persian food. Not sure how authentic it is (this was my first time tasting Persian food) but I would go back and try something else, like those starters I mentioned 🙂
Foodgasm 7/10