By Syma Sayyah, Tehran

There are not that many inspiring and good restaurants in Tehran, besides some well-known chelo-kabab ones.  So when you come across a decent, nice and a different type of restaurant it is a sort of novelty.

We had seen the huge advertising board in the middle of Jordan Avenue, above the Arash crossing, not far from where we live, but had not been there until recently when we did go twice in a short time.  The name of the restaurant is Gilane which means little Gilan. Gilan is the name of a province in the north of Iran, well known for its wonderful culinary delicacies among other things.  It is also called Zeyton (olive) for the selection of Lebanese food on the menu; therefore it could be called Gilane/Zeyton.

Once we went here with some foreign friends and another time we were invited by some Iranian friends, on each occasion we had a great time and enjoyed ourselves and our food.  More than anything else I liked the ambience there that I found to be so wonderful. If anyone has been to Gilan and Masouleh, from the moment you step to go in, the decor made of thatch and the little geranium pots and the wooden window makes you feel that you are in shomal (the north by Caspian).

As you walk up the stairs of the little mall facing one of the side streets of Jordan, you come across more elements that bring a smile to your lips. The inner decoration is even more heart warming and just as good and we liked the benches and the tiles there a lot. This gives the place a sense of most endearing friendly casualness; the service is good and far above the average.

The food is good if not great and the delicacies are quite delicious.  The restaurant, as mentioned above, is a combination of Lebanese and Shomali although we rather failed to find a correlation between them.  Some of us ordered from the Lebanese selection and some from the Shomali and we were quite happy with our choices.

The torshe kebab (sour kebab) and pale kebab, were great, also the white fish was good.  I found their baghali ghatog a little watery.  We loved the variety of shomali olives on the menu and the mixed Gilani meza.  We found their special salad lovely.  We found the place very clean and we liked the design of the placemats and plates in the form of 2 olives on the leaves.  Here we have some photos for you to get a feel of the place, jaye shoma khali (we missed you)!

Gilane/Zeyton:

Mediterranean Passaszh (Mall), Saba Boulevard, Africa (Jordan) Avenue, Tehran Tel. 22041434 & 22040324

... Payvand News - 01/10/08 ...