Sheherzade is the sister restaurant of Pomegranate, both located east of Little Italy. Access is…read morevery convenient by TTC, with a streetcar stop almost in front of the restaurant; parking is usually not difficult to find on College Street.
The decor is charming, with beautiful light fixtures, and Persian tiles and artwork on the walls. Service is friendly.
For appetizer, we ordered Zeitoon Parvardeh, prepared Rudbar style: whole green pitted olives, ground walnuts, crushed garlic, pomegranate molasses, sprinkled with mint. It was very tasty, similar in flavor to the one served at Pomegranate, but the whole green olives gave this version a distinctive experience.
For main course, our table ordered Dizi, Kabob Barg and Adasi Bushehri.
Dizi or 'Abgoosht' is described as one of the most popular dishes in Iran, prepared and served in clay or stone pots called 'Dizi'. It is a stew of lamb shank, lamb rib, chickpeas, white beans, potato, onion, tomato and spices, cooked for over 4 hours. Abgoosht forms a complete 2 course meal: first, the broth is carefully drained from the pot into a soup bowl; the broth is sipped as a soup and often soaked with torn pieces of barbary flatbread in a style called 'tareed'. The meat and the beans are then pounded into a coarse puree, to be scooped up with flatbread, and enjoyed with creamy yogurt and torshi. This dish was delicious; both the broth and the stew were rich and flavorful, making it a delightful hearty meal.
Adasi Bushehri is a vegetarian soup-style stew of red lentils, onions, garlic, cumin and tomatoes, drizzled with tamarind or pomegranate molasses; it is served with zereshk polo, spinach borani and salad. It can be made vegan upon request. It is also suitable for people with dietary restrictions that require soft food. This is another lovely flavorful dish, where the drizzled molasses provides a nice contrast to the stew.
The only disappointment was the Kabob Barg, which was tender, but dry and flavorless.
Highly recommend the Dizi!