Simurgh

Visited the Simurgh restaurant last night, great location and nice decorations. I had the chicken & banana for the first time, it was nice and had different taste.They said the chicken & banana is a food from north of Iran! I didn't like the taste of Kabab kobideh, I was thinking it was too fatty. I thought it was worth a try the delicious Persian food in the central London instead of travelling to North or West of London where the most Iranian restaurant located.

I came to this restaurant around 5pm when it was quiet. The owner warmly welcomed me and gave a lovely introduction to the various dishes helping me decide what to have; the Sultani Joojeh with a pomegranate juice. Being my first ever experience of Iranian/Persian cuisine I have no source for comparison however this restaurant is recommended on its authenticity and I found the food delicious. The meat beautifully came apart, the tomato sauce that came with the chicken wonderful and I enjoyed all three varieties of rice (would not have thought cinnamon worked in rice). If you are in the Covent Garden / Leicester Square area and fancy trying something different I really recommend this restaurant. The price is more than some others in the area but I wouldn't say expensive and I was happy to pay it given the quality.

Very nice presentation of the food. They added rose water to the food, which was very different. Really enjoyed my joojeh with 3 different kinds of rice (zereshk polo, berenj sefid, and baghali polo). Definitely not a typical kabab experience. Needed more salt in the rice. While interesting, I prefer my rose water in my desert.

Really nice, inexpensive Persian dining. Food is excellent and the menu is simple. Staff are friendly but can be a little slow with service. However, the food arrives very quickly and is very good. If you're going as a two I recommend going for the sharing platter. For £30 you get plenty of food to share and enjoy.