A Few Blissful And Peaceful Days In Kish: Good Eating Places

01/23/09

Payvand.com - During our recent blissful trip to Kish we had decided not to go to any of the familiar places to eat that we had been to several times in past trips to Kish and to try some new ones. Below we share with you our choices and our experiences.

It is common that visitors go to watch the sunset on the west coast of the island where a Greek ship "Keshti-e-Yunani" ran aground over 40 years ago, and since we were last there three years ago the area has been tidied up and now has a playground and a small Greek theater as well as more stands. But the ship itself seems to have deteriorated rather. We went to the Kolbe Darvish restaurant which is about a kilometer north of the Greek Ship and here had the best abgousht in whole of Kish. We watched the sunset sitting on the takhte, leaning on the big cushions sipping our tea; and we enjoyed the great hospitality of Mrs. Shahriyari its manager, and the wonderful service of a hard worker Amin, a young potential entrepreneur with realistic dreams whose zest and energy impressed us both. The place is owned by Mr Abdar who used to be a wrestler and has his old photos there along with those of the famous Iranian wrestler Takhti with many other interesting and authentic Iranian items such as several kashkoul and other ornaments.

Our next restaurant was Amu Akbar which is a sea food restaurant run by Mr Mortezaie its manager from Rasht. He told me that Amu Akbar, who was originally from the province of Chaharmahal Bakhtiari, started the restaurant 17 years ago. Although the fish was good I cannot say it was great but then one cannot be too choosy in Kish when it comes to food and nothing there is cheap.

The place that we went for Friday lunch was the Payab restaurant where our driver Mr Jourjani took us when we asked him for a recommendation. It is outside in a large garden surrounded by trees with a couple of ponds with open fountains and many takhtes as well as tables with chairs. The waiters are dressed in colorful outfits and the kitchen and the wonderful bakery can be seen at the side of the garden. There was a lot of activity and many people were relaxing and enjoying themselves while some were smoking water pipes. I loved the ambiance, the nice (but sometimes grumpy) servers, and the most delightful chef and baker. The food was ok but there was only one person taking orders for so many people.

Kolbe Darvish between the Greek Ship and Kolbe Hoor 0936 497 2786

Amu Akbar, opposite Paniz Shopping Mall +98 764 442 4396

Payab Restaurant, Olympic Boulevard +98 764 442 3638

Related Article: A few blissful and peaceful days in Kish - Part 1