We clearly did not have our fill of Middle Eastern food on our recent trip to Dubai. So last night we headed to this Persian restaurant that is said to have some amazing fare.
Most of the menu sounded Greek to us since there are no detailed descriptions accompanying the names of some exotic kebabs: mutton chopan, Uzbeki kebab, Kazan kebab, and so on. Our server helped us decode these names and also suggested some bestsellers.
We had the Non Veg platter that com es with juicy lamb koobideh, extremely flavourful jujeh kebab (chicken) with hummus, tzatziki, baba ghanoush and pita bread. I am forgetting the name of the leg of lamb that comes with rice, but the pure juices of the meat and some chopped kachumber salad are adequate to liven up plain white rice. Then there was the Kazan kebab (lamb chop) that is so soft and succulent that it literally falls off the bone. Mutton chopan is deliciously charred and has wonderful caramelized flavour of pomegranate molasses. Although this was plenty of food, our little companions still wanted more, hence came the Fatayer (a "folded pizza" we were told) stuffed with chicken, mutton and cheese. All this was washed down with Doogh, a cool and savoury drink made of buttermilk (think, chhachh!).
I have to confess that the breads and dips could have been better, but the kebabs are absolutely brilliant. If you end up trying out this restaurant, Nooshe Joon, I would love to hear about your experience too.
Nooshe Joon used to be at Epicuria earlier, where they had a limited menu as well as seating. About three months ago they opened at Lajpat Nagar, which is fast becoming a hub for Afghani food, with a wider menu as well as a larger seating capacity.
Nooshe Joon, Block 1, I-83, 1 st Floor, Lajpat Nagar 2, New Delhi.
