Payvand.com - He wanted to go to China but all the direct flights were full so he travelled via Dubai. As he was waiting in the Dubai airport lounge, he heard an announcement requesting those passengers travelling to Tehran to board their plane. He had not been home for 15 years. On hearing the name of his home city, he got goose bumps and his heart ached and longed for those Alborz mountain views and tears rolled down his face. He realized that he had many things but not his vatann (homeland), he missed it terribly, suddenly after so many years.

We had heard about a new Italian restaurant from our good friends Mario and Fellicetta so with a few other friends we decided to try it out and last night despite the heavy snow showers we went to the Niloo Italian Restaurant which is part of the Niloo Hotel Apartments near Vanak Square.
 

The staff

When one tries new places, there is a sense of adventure and curiosity combined with a niggling doubt and fear of being let down. What a lovely and pleasant surprise we all had. The place was immaculately clean and tidy. The staff were very cordial and pleasant. The ambience was good and a lot of attention had gone into decorating the place, even the taps in the bathroom were exceptionally beautiful - I love great design. It is an elegant and cosy Italian oasis in North Tehran and like a valuable gem is hidden away.

We were led to our table by the very efficient manager Mr Irandoust and presented with the menu, which were all Italian dishes. Along with a good selection of starters and pasta, there were about 15 main courses, the meat dishes were veal and chicken and there was also fish and seafood from the Caspian.

The tablecloths were very interesting and I simply liked the heavy cutlery and the plates were great just to look at. The bread was excellent. The wineglasses were of a good very dark design that you made wish you could have the real stuff instead of water, cola or Bavaria (non-alcoholic beer) , well one can dream on with all the luxury and why not. Guests are offered a little toasted Italian amuse-bouche giving them time to decide what they wished to eat.
 

I asked our party what they thought about the place and among the comments expressed were things such as it is cosy and warmly elegant, it gave one the feel of being exclusive and a great place to spend long hours chatting with friends. It has a good buzz and makes you relax. The décor was in good harmony with the colors used. There were many original paintings by Mr Taraghijah - maybe a few too many- but they were some of his good works and a couple of them I liked.
 

Tasty Lemon Veal Fillet

We thought that the lighting maybe needed to be a little more localized for each table, which would make the place even more comfortable, that the staff needed just a little more Italian food training and the room temperature needed to be a little cooler so that you could really treat yourself and meet friends for lunch or dinner, enjoy the great ambience and wonderful service and food.

Delicious Chicken Fillet
 

Just after we finished dinner I asked permission to go into the kitchen to take some photographs. I was very impressed how tidy and clean everywhere was and there I met the owner, Mr Ahmadi. He is the man who came home and decided to go into the hotel and restaurant business and he has truly done a fantastic task and must be congratulated on doing such a fine job.

Unbelievable desert
 

Yes, we get to the food too. It was all beautifully decorated. The soups were beautifully presented and tasted wonderful and the mixed sea food starter was superb. The spaghetti was done just right and sauces were good. The meat dishes - chicken and veal - were lovely.

Charming and dedicated Mr. Mehdi Ahmadi
 

I shall not tell you anything about the dessert and the homemade ice-cream apart from the fact that I did not care too much about my waistline and enjoyed it to the very end. The prices, for a high-end restaurant in Tehran were, we thought, very reasonable, about $25-30 a head.

Your places were empty (jaye shoma khali) and I highly recommend that you should try the magical Niloo Italian restaurant and also if you would like somewhere out of the ordinary , especially clean and with easy access to the city then may be you would like to get details of Niloo Hotel apartments. We have a few pictures for you to get the feel of the place.
 

www.hotelniloo.com
Telephone: +98 21 8887 8350
No. 26.1, North Niloo St., Tavanir St., Tehran